{"id":14263,"date":"2025-06-25T19:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T19:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14263\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T19:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T19:07:08","slug":"toni-preckwinkle-picks-new-cook-county-forest-preserves-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14263\/","title":{"rendered":"Toni Preckwinkle picks new Cook County Forest Preserves boss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a year and a half without a permanent leader, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has nominated a new head for the county\u2019s Forest Preserves.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, she named Adam Bianchi as her pick to become the district\u2019s new superintendent. Her choice will face a vote from the Forest Preserves board \u2014 which has the same members as the Cook County board \u2014 next week.<\/p>\n<p>If approved, Bianchi would fill the shoes left by longtime Forest Preserve Superintendent Arnold Randall, who had run the district <a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.chicagotribune.com\/clout_st\/2010\/12\/preckwinkle-names-new-leadership-for-forest-preserves.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">for 13 years<\/a> and left to lead the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Bianchi comes from Colorado, where he served as District Ranger for the White River National Forest\u2019s Dillon Ranger District an hour west of Denver. There, he managed 312,000 acres of trails, wilderness areas, two major reservoirs, 14 campgrounds, and four ski resorts, including Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, according to a county release.<\/p>\n<p>Cook County\u2019s Forest Preserves \u2014 one of the oldest and biggest in the country \u2014 include 70,000 acres of campgrounds, trails, boating centers, picnic groves and golf courses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis marks an exciting opportunity in my career dedicated to conserving forests, wildlife habitats and wetlands, while expanding access and welcoming more people to connect with their incredible public lands,\u201d Bianchi said in the release.<\/p>\n<p>He has worked for the USDA\u2019s forest service for his entire career, according to his LinkedIn. This would be his first time working in the Midwest since 2016, when he was a district silviculturist for the Ottawa National Forest in Kenton, Mich., helping control and manage the growth of the forest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the last 15 years, the Forest Preserves has transformed as an institution, becoming a leader in ecological restoration in a highly developed landscape, in connecting a diverse population to the wonders of nature, and in operations and transparency,\u201d Preckwinkle said in the same release. \u201cAdam Bianchi\u2019s experience, energy and perspective are an outstanding fit as General Superintendent for the next chapter of the Preserves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked at an unrelated press conference why it took so long to fill Randall\u2019s vacancy, Preckwinkle said the county\u2019s search priority was replacing Israel Rocha, who exited the county\u2019s health and hospitals system around the same time as Randall. After a year, the county chose Dr. Erik Mikaitis \u2014 who had already been serving as interim CEO \u2014 to fill Rocha\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<p>If confirmed, Bianchi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/2023\/10\/17\/cook-county-forest-preserves-189-million-budget-marks-new-era-with-referendum-cash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">would inherit a healthier budget<\/a> than his predecessors, thanks to a voter-authorized property tax hike that\u2019s allowed the district to spend more on conservation efforts, buying new land, maintaining the Brookfield Zoo and Chicago Botanic Garden, and paying down pension debts.<\/p>\n<p>Originally Published: June 25, 2025 at 1:18 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a year and a half without a permanent leader, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has nominated&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[11438,14670,14671,14672,14673,12320,14674,14675,14676,960,14677,14678,5404,14679,14680,14720,14681,14682,14683,14684,14721,14685,11612,14686,14687,9287,8413,14688,14689,14690,14691,5386,1818,14692,14693,14694,1370,14695,728,14696,6287,14697,14698,50,14699,14700,10886,14701,14702,11210,14703,14704,14705,14706,14707,14708,80,14709,14710,14711,14712,14713,14714,14715,14716,14717,14718,14719],"class_list":{"0":"post-14263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arlington-heights","9":"tag-barrington","10":"tag-berwyn","11":"tag-blue-island","12":"tag-brookfield","13":"tag-buffalo-grove","14":"tag-burbank","15":"tag-burr-ridge","16":"tag-calumet-city","17":"tag-chicago","18":"tag-chicago-heights","19":"tag-cicero","20":"tag-cook-county","21":"tag-country-club-hills","22":"tag-countryside","23":"tag-daily-southtown","24":"tag-deerfield","25":"tag-des-plaines","26":"tag-dolton","27":"tag-elgin","28":"tag-elgin-courier-news","29":"tag-elmwood-park","30":"tag-evanston","31":"tag-franklin-park","32":"tag-glencoe","33":"tag-glenview","34":"tag-harvey","35":"tag-hickory-hills","36":"tag-hinsdale","37":"tag-hoffman-estates","38":"tag-hometown","39":"tag-il","40":"tag-illinois","41":"tag-la-grange","42":"tag-la-grange-park","43":"tag-lansing","44":"tag-latest-headlines","45":"tag-lincolnwood","46":"tag-local-news","47":"tag-markham","48":"tag-maywood","49":"tag-morton-grove","50":"tag-mount-prospect","51":"tag-news","52":"tag-niles","53":"tag-norridge","54":"tag-northbrook","55":"tag-northlake","56":"tag-oak-forest","57":"tag-oak-lawn","58":"tag-oak-park","59":"tag-orland-park","60":"tag-palatine","61":"tag-palos-heights","62":"tag-palos-hills","63":"tag-park-ridge","64":"tag-politics","65":"tag-prospect-heights","66":"tag-river-forest","67":"tag-rolling-meadows","68":"tag-rosemont","69":"tag-schaumburg","70":"tag-skokie","71":"tag-streamwood","72":"tag-tinley-park","73":"tag-western-springs","74":"tag-wheeling","75":"tag-winnetka"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}