Sophia Vela from the Cook County Forest Preserves previews their Earth Day celebrations and special programming.

It takes a village to raise a turtle these days. When 11 baby Blanding’s turtles — a state-listed endangered species — were recently released into the swampy waters of a Cook County forest preserve wetland, they were cheered on by no fewer than a dozen people who’d had a hand in either fostering the little ones’ development or in restoring the turtle’s habitat.

Forestry and related fields have historically been dominated by white males but a program for suburban Cook County teens has a goal of drawing more workers of color.

Ecologists thought it had been lost forever. But just one year into the Cook County Forest Preserves 2015 Natural and Cultural Resources Master Plan, the tiny twayblade orchid reemerged at Cranberry Slough in the Palos Preserves.