Hey, this is Jesse Dukes with Curious City, and this is a woodpecker, banging away at a tree in the Cook County Forest Preserves at a little secluded spot I know about.

I've been relying on trips to forest preserves to keep my spirits up, get some exercise, and just forget about COVID-19 for a few

minutes. And from what we're hearing, I'm not alone. Many people are making short trips into nature.

There are a lot of options. In Cook County alone, there are more than 69,000 acres of forests,

prairies, and wetlands, and there are more preserves throughout the region.

But Cook County was the first in Illinois to establish forest preserves.

They get an estimated 62 million visits a year, and during COVID-19, they've stayed open with

signs encouraging people to maintain six feet of distance on the trails.

We're revisiting this story about their origin from 2017 because the preserves were originally

created in part for public health by reformers who recognized that city dwellers in crowded

conditions would benefit from getting into nature and recreating.

The story was inspired by Arnufo Delgado, who loves to ride his bike in the

Cook and DuPage County preserves. When you're in touch with nature, you become aware of how

life is so complex and at the same time very simple. Arnulfo says he's grateful to whoever

had the foresight to set aside this land.

But who had that foresight?

He asked Curious City how the Cook County Forest Preserves got started.

And reporter Jake Smith has the answer.

The story behind the Cook County Forest Preserves involves an architect named Dwight Perkins

and his ambitious vision to preserve Chicago architect named Dwight Perkins and his ambitious

vision to preserve Chicago's natural landscapes. Perkins' 15-year battle to create the preserves

wasn't just about whether nature should be preserved. Most people agree with that. It was about

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