Letter: Don Kirchenberg for DuPage County Forest Preserve District 2

I am supporting Don Kirchenberg for DuPage County Forest Preserve Commissioner in District 2 because he has been working hard as a volunteer for many years to help protect our open spaces, including many of the county-owned properties most of us take for granted. 

For example, he led the fight for the preservation of a unique forest in unincorporated Lombard, which is now the Glacial Ridge Forest Preserve of DuPage County. This site has never been developed or farmed, and flora grows as it was before settlers came to the area. It's a unique and important small ecosystem that isn't available anywhere else, even at the Morton Arboretum.

He has also served as volunteer president of the Illinois Prairie Path not-for-profit corporation for more than seven years, and on the organization's board of directors for nine. He is also the ongoing voluntary chairman of the Friends of the Great Western Trails. He founded the group, and has been leading it for 12 years—benefiting the trails, trail users and surrounding communities.

Most importantly, Don has excellent ideas on how to improve the management of our Forest Preserve District in DuPage County. We need him to help clean up the current corruption that's seen three indicted for defrauding the Forest Preserve District of half a million dollars. 

I encourage you to support Kirchenberg's campaign. You can learn more about him at www.citizensforkirchenberg.org. There aren't many people so perfectly suited for the office of forest preserve commissioner, and his credentials and experience far outweigh his opponent's. If you live in District 2 in DuPage County, Don Kirchenberg for Forest Preserve Commissioner is far and away the best choice. 

—Mark Garrity, Downers Grove