A longtime Skokie park manager will receive one of the Chicago area’s highest honors in wilderness conservation later this month.

Emily Oaks Nature Center Manager Lee Hansen was named as one of the 31 winners of the Chicago Wilderness Alliance’s George B. Rabb Force of Nature Award. Hansen is the first Skokie Park District employee to receive the award.

“It’s a huge honor,” Hansen told Pioneer Press on a tour of the 13-acre park. “There are people on that list (of winners) that are like… wow.”

“Who would not want to be called a force of nature?” she added.

During her tenure at Emily Oaks, Hansen expanded wilderness and conservation programs at the nature center. She also implemented the Earthkeepers school program and outlined plans for the Growing Sprouts preschool program.

The awa

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