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It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate.

Report. Explore. From WB.EZ.

I'm Jake Smith.

There are more than 69,000 acres of hardy forests, wind-swept prairies, and swampy wetlands scattered across Chicagoland, all part of the Cook County Forest Preserves.

Cook County was actually the first in the state to establish a forest preserve district.

In the summer, some of these

preserves get 20,000 visitors a month, including Arnulfo Delgado. He rides his bike through

the preserves of Cook and nearby DuPage County a couple times a week. When you're in touch

with nature, you become aware of how life is so complex and at the same time very simple.

The thing Arnolfo finds so amazing about these preserves is the foresight it must have taken to establish them.

But whose foresight was it?

Arnolfo had no idea.

So he asked Curious City...

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