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The Cook County Forest Preserve District's popular Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center near Willow Springs, along with its immediate surroundings, would undergo major renovations under a list of anticipated projects unveiled Monday. The district administration proposes to build a $4 million nature center next to the school house, repave the parking lot while adding 200 new spaces and replace the building's heating system. The projects are among $50 million in spending the district has planned over the next three years with the proceeds from bonded debt issued late last year. The administration's proposed project list released Monday also includes rebuilding or replacing 105 picnic shelters, renovating or repaving 68 miles of trails, replacing the roofs of numerous facilities and spending more than $1 million stabilizing eroded shorelines. "The good news is a lot of our facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The bad news is it was the 1930s," said Allan Mellis , director of planning and development. The list of proposed projects will be presented Thursday to the Board of Commissioners, which is expected to refer it to committee for review. The funding comes from $100 million in bonds issued after approval of the General Assembly. Half of the money was divided between the Brookfield Zoo and Chicago Botanic Garden, while the district retained the other $50 million. Paying for the debt fueled a 13.5 percent increase in the forest preserves' property-tax levy, which commissioners justified as going toward much-need improvements and being relatively small in dollar terms when spread out countywide. According to the schedule released Monday, the district would spend $41.2 million on a wide array of projects throughout the county as well as buy new heavy equipment. An additional $4.3 million would go to project management and design services, with $4.5 million built in for contingencies. The Little Red Schoolhouse, near 95th Street and Willow Springs Road, is the most popular of the district's nature centers, attracting 200,000 visitors annually, spokesman Steve Mayberry said. Other major projects include replacing the learning center at Camp Sagawau near Lemont, building a wildlife headquarters at the Poplar Creek resource management center near Elgin and putting up an ecology structure at the Salt Creek resource management center near Western Springs.