In 2008, the Lake Forest Garden Club gifted the City of Lake Forest a Conceptual Master plan to restore, enhance and preserve Forest Park. To implement the plan, the nonprofit Forest Park Project board formed shortly thereafter to steward the park’s renovation, raising $3.2 million through a public-private partnership.

The new plan sought to restore natural areas, get rid of invasive vegetation, open up vistas to lake, reintroduce pathways to the park and repair its infrastructure. Construction and planting were completed in 2015.