Budget includes money for Naperville’s Springbrook Prairie
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County Board has approved a 2026 budget of $151 million, which includes habitat restoration work at the Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve in Naperville.
The budget represents a 5% increase over this year’s amended budget of $143.7 million, district officials said in a news release.
Included in the budget is $69.6 million to support capital projects designed to enhance facilities, improve infrastructure and restore natural areas, the release said.
In addition to habitat restoration work at Springbrook Prairie, other restoration work will take place at Egermann Woods and Hickory Grove in Lisle and Fischer Woods in Bensenville.
The budget provides for construction of the new Grounds and Natural Resources Management and Maintenance Campus in West Chicago, course improvements for Maple Meadows Golf Preserve in Wood Dale and interior restoration work at Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook.
The board is also planning trail, parking lot and roadway improvements throughout the district and to acquire land for open space.
The budget process began in the spring.
World Mediation Day event being held Sunday at library
Naperville residents are invited to take part in a United Nations-recognized World Mediation Day at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21, at the Nichols Library, 200 W. Jefferson Ave.
Seating for the event begins at 1:30 p.m., organizers said. It’s free, open to all and requires no prior mediation experience.
Participants will join others from around the world in a live mediation session led by humanitarian and peace ambassador Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, streamed from New York City, organizers said.
Dec. 21 has been designated as World Mediation Day, a global initiative that highlights mediation as a tool for stress relief, emotional resilience and peace, organizers said.
Will County Health Department offering COVID-19 vaccine
The new 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine is available at Will County Health Department Immunization Clinics and the Will County Community Health Center.
Vaccinations are available for anyone six months old and older at the main office at 501 Ella Ave., Joliet; the eastern branch office, 5601 W. Monee-Manhattan Road, Monee; and the northern branch office, 323 Quadrangle Drive, Bolingbrook.
To make an appointment at any of the locations, call 815-740-8143.
The Will County Community Health Center, 1106 Neal Ave., Joliet, is also offering the COVID-19 vaccine for ages six months and older, county officials said. To make an appointment, call 815-727-8670.