The Dow Chemical Co. would donate $65,000 to the Will County Forest Preserve District by year’s end and another $65,000 in 2007 under a licensing agreement the district board is expected to approve Thursday.
The contributions, the first under the forest district’s new sponsorship and donation program, would cover the cost of constructing and adding electricity to a 200-person picnic shelter at Kerry Sheridan Grove, named after District President Kerry Sheridan. The Forest Preserve District would use any leftover money to help build a 50-person shelter at the grove, District Executive Director Michael Pasteris said.
Sheridan (R-Shorewood) represents much of southwestern Will County in his dual role as a County Board member.
Pasteris told Finance Committee members Wednesday that the district would recognize Dow Chemical with a banner when the shelters are completed. The district would also build a smaller, more permanent, marker acknowledging the six-figure contribution.
Dow had been identified as a potential donor by IEG, a Chicago-based consulting firm that laid the groundwork for the district’s sponsorship and donation program.
In May, Channahon representatives from the Midland, Mich.,-based company offered the contribution at the grove, which is in McKinley Woods Preserve, formerly known as Moose Island.
The donation comes as Dow Chemical Co. defends itself against a class-action suit brought by residents living near its central Michigan headquarters. The residents allege a connection between Dow Chemical’s presence and dioxin contamination of the Tittabawassee River.
Pasteris has acknowledged Dow Chemical’s past association with napalm, a defoliant used in Vietnam, but defended the company’s “good track record” in Will County.
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