RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HEARINGS ON THE STATE OF URBAN WILDLIFE IN
THE CITY OF CHICAGO
WHEREAS, People in the United States of America are increasingly living in urban centers, such as Chicago, and these centers are continuing to expand at a rapid pace; and
WHEREAS, Ecologists have realized that increasing amounts of wildlife co-exist in these urban centers, and further study was required to gauge these impacts of urban growth on wildlife; and
WHEREAS, The Lincoln Park Zoo formed the Urban Wildlife Institute in 2009, to ascertain new ways of applying science to the conservation and management of wildlife species in urban areas; and
WHEREAS, The Urban Wildlife Institute answered important questions such as the risk of disease wildlife poses to humans, the role of invasive plants in the ecosystem, and evaluating land use decisions and their impact on wildlife animal communities; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago was the first urban center used as a laboratory by the Urban Wildlife Institute to study the entire ecosystem and established a network of monitoring stations across the region to further this goal; and
WHEREAS, The stations use state-of-the-art methods of study, including motion-triggered cameras, insect sampling traps, sonic bat detectors, the installation of 125 cameras throughout the City resulting in 1.2 million images; and
WHEREAS, The results of this six year study have been compiled and are of tremendous value to the City; now, therefore
MICHELE SMITH Alderman, 43rd Ward
BE IT RESOLVED, That the Committee on Health and Environmental Protection calls upon the Urban Wildlife Institute to appear before the Committee and present the findings of their study.