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Hoping to galvanize its volunteer base by stealing a page from successful "adopt-a-highway" programs, the Cook County Forest Preserve District is setting up a similar program where citizens agree to clean up and care for designated areas.

The program, called Preserve Keepers Corps, would initially focus on cleaning debris four times a year from trails, streams, groves and the shorelines of lakes. More advanced groups may also get involved in caring for plant life, such as removing invasive buckthorn, said Bill Koenig, the district's volunteer coordinator.

The program is part of the district's renewed effort, which started a year ago following criticism from activists, to call on volunteers to help care for the more than 68,000 acres of land holdings.

In his budget address Monday, Cook County Board President John Stroger said the Preserve Keepers Corps would "empower a new generation of individuals to protect and improve their forest preserves."

The district already has a volunteer base of roughly 4,000 people, ranging from active participants who have completed an accreditation program to those who sign up to collect litter once a year, spokesman Steve Mayberry said.

The new program would tap into that population, using volunteer groups from neighborhoods, schools, churches and elsewhere to care for specific areas.

For example, a group might agree to patrol a section of the Tampier Lake shoreline in the south suburbs or clean a portion of Busse Woods in the northwest suburbs. The volunteers would agree to patrol at least four times a year, although agreements could be tailored to the group, Koenig said.

No funding was allocated specifically for the program in the 2004 budget, but Koenig said the initial costs should be low. He also said the budget includes dollars for volunteer resources.

The district will also seek grants and corporate funding for the program.

"On the basic level, you're talking about supplies: trash bags, pick-up sticks, gloves. And we're talking about signage and patches," he said. "Those are things that are very reasonable for us to find ways to fund, either out of the budget or from other resources."

Koenig said the district has already started talking with some of its volunteers and it hopes to have the program formalized by Jan. 1. The initial focus would be on areas where it already have strong volunteer support like in Busse Woods and the Skokie Lagoons.

"I think we want to work where the energy already is and build on those places," he said.

Last year, the forest preserve district came under increasing criticism by groups like Friends of the Forest Preserves, which said the areas were in poor condition and officials were failing to put willing volunteers to work. In the wake of that criticism, the district created a program late last year in which volunteers could go through training to become "master stewards," allowing them to supervise other volunteers. And just last week, commissioners approved a long-awaited revision to the land-management guidelines that govern how the district cares for its natural resources.

Activist groups have welcomed these changes."Anything the district can do to improve communication with preserve neighbors and with the public at large is positive," Debra Shore, a board member of Friends of the Forest Preserve, said of the Preserve Keepers Corps. "The district has suffered in the past from poor communication or lack of communication. So this program and others that are reaching out to and engaging people who live near preserves, use the preserves and care about the nature that we have are very welcome signs."

For more information on the Preserve Keepers Corps, Koenig can be reached at 708-771-1334.