Mission Statement for The Illinois Prairie Path
a not-for-profit corporation

Adopted March 5, 1991, revised February 4, 2002

To advise and assist the various governmental agencies
responsible for maintaining and developing a safe,
public, multiple-purpose trail open to all called The
Illinois Prairie Path, located on, or connecting the
various segments of, the right-of-way of the old
Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric railroad in Cook,
DuPage and Kane Counties, Illinois. Major concerns of
the corporation are recreation, prairie restoration,
land preservation and beautification, conservation of
natural resources and ecosystems, preservation and
interpretation of historic sites, and the connection
of The Illinois Prairie Path to other trails to form
a regional network of "greenways."

GOALS

1. Complete the Cook County section from First Avenue,
   Maywood and east across the Des Plaines River to 
   the CTA station in Forest Park. Needs site plan,
   adequate funding, responsible management and
   continuity.

2. Promote the development of connecting trails:
   a. Along the east and West Branches of the DuPage
      River,
   b. To various points along the Great Western Trail 
      (support constructing a bridge over Grace Street, 
      St. Charles Road and the Union Pacific Railroad 
      in Lombard; add safe non-motorized crossings 
      with push-button light and sidewalks at regular 
      one-mile intervals along North Avenue),
   c. Through the Lincoln Marsh to connect the IPP to
      the Great Western Trail,
   d. Along the Butterfield Road corridor with 
      push-button lights and sidewalks for 
      neighborhood access,
   e. Along the Salt Creek to the Illinois-Michigan
      Canal,
   f. Along the EJ&E RR r/w to the Illinois-Michigan
      Canal,
   g. Any other trails connecting with The Illinois
      Prairie Path.

3. Support the following standards and management
   goals:
   a. Preserve and enhance trail continuity; minimize
      parking lot encroachments on the Path but provide
      adequate parking for Path users where necessary;
      mitigate impacts of new roads, railroads, etc.,
      crossing the Path; support grade separations, or
      push-button stoplights if grade crossings cannot
      be avoided.
   b. Support continued use of relatively inexpensive
      limestone screenings as the surfacing material
      acceptable to most users, with asphalt reserved
      for short stretches having major erosion or other
      special problems; encourage path widening to ten
      feet in high-traffic areas.
   c. Support separate trails for horses where
      equestrians are more than 1% of users, according
      to officially recognized user surveys.*
   d. Provide amenities, such as logo signs, display
      case stands with maps of the trail, plantings,
      benches, drinking fountains, trash containers,
      toilet facilities, and mile markers. Provide a
      few signs indicating points of interest.
   e. Support police protection all along the Path.

4. Support official recognition by DuPage County and
   other governmental agencies concerned in any way
   with the trail that the name of the trail on the
   old CA&E right-of-way is, and always has been, The
   Illinois Prairie Path, the name given it in 1964 by
   May Theilgaard Watts and the other Path founders.
   Support official recognition of the green-and-white
   logo design by the founders and registered with the
   Illinois Secretary of State. It has been used and
   displayed on the trail since 1967.

   *All surveys done to date agree that the bicyclists
   represent 80% of users on all sections, and
   joggers, 15%; the rest are mainly hikers except in
   the Wayne area, where more than 1% of regular path
   users are equestrians.