Clean Fort Sheridan Beach This Saturday

The Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve, a nearly one-mile stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline, needs volunteers to clean it from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

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The preserve entrance is located on Sheridan Road at Old Elm Road and Simonds Way near Highland Park. Meet at the top of the stairs leading to the beach. Follow the trail from the parking lot to the meeting place. Bring your own work gloves and drinking water, if possible. Limited supplies will be available for those who do not have their own. Volunteers are welcome even if they cannot stay for the entire morning. 

Jonathan Schlesinger, representing Plants of Concern, and Lake County Forest Preserve education and natural resource staff, will supervise the Fort Sheridan cleanup effort and train volunteers on how to protect endangered plant species on the beach.

The event is being led by , Schlesinger representing Plants of Concern, Judy Johnston and Charla Reinganum of the  and Nicole Patel.

Volunteers remove debris and record what they find. Collected trash will be weighed and tally data will be incorporated into a regional study to identify the activities and general sources causing Great Lakes shoreline debris. In 2010, 7,006 volunteers removed 20,540 pounds of trash from beaches and shorelines in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

For questions about the clean-up, call Lake County Forest Preserves Environmental Educator Jennifer Sazama at (847) 968-3482.