CONSERVATION

Page Updated last September 1, 2010

Citizens for Conservation’s
Fall Native Tree and Shrub Sale and Green Fair

Saturday, September 18th, 9:00 - Noon

Shop from a large selection of native trees and shrubs.

Learn how to Go Green: Build a rain garden, compost, attract birds and butterflies to your yard, grow a healthy lawn without chemicals. Talk with representatives from Flint Creek Watershed Partnership, Smart Farm and Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation.

Meet representatives from Wild Bird Center, Tallgrass Restoration, and other environmental vendors. Shop through an assortment of slightly used environmentally themed books while children enjoy a nature craft.

CFC Headquarters: 459 W. Highway 22 in Lake Barrington-the white farmhouse with a silo across from Good Shepherd Hospital. Please call CFC at 847-382-SAVE (7283) with any questions. www.citizensforconservation.org

Spring Creek Forest Preserve joined the

Illinois Important Bird Areas (IBA) program .

Spring Creek Forest Preserve joined twenty six other new entries to the Illinois Important Bird Areas (IBA) program on June 10th, 2010.

On hand to celebrate this honor were Steve Bylina, General Superintendent, Forest Preserve District of Cook County; Janice Engle, Field Supervisor, US Fish and Wildlife Service; Wendy Paulson, Bird Monitor and Conservationist; Judy Pollock, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Chicago Region; John Rogner, Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Natural Resources; along with scores of local conservationists.

Important Bird Areas are important habitats that our birds depend on for survival. Illinois plays a critical role in the conservation of many birds. The sites selected may host tens of thousand of migrating landbirds or waterfowl in a year, or thousand of migrating raptors or shorebirds. They may provide nesting habitat for hundreds of herons and egrets, or for scores of rare grassland, woodland or wetland birds. Others may be wintering destinations for birds like Bald Eagles, Short-eared Owls or Rusty Blackbirds, a species whose precipitous decline in recent years puzzles ornithologists.

The Illinois Illinois IBA program is part of a worldwide effort. Sites may be chosen for their state-wide importance, and those that are critical to a bird’s population are nominated fro the global network. Illinois has a number of sites that meet the global criteria. The Henslow’s Sparrow is endemic to the tallgrass prairie - its population is centered in Illinois and a few surrounding states. There are 14 IBA’s in Illinois that have significant populations of this rare songbird. More than a tenth of the population of American golden-plovers migrate through the state. The re-headed woodpecker, long a common sight in the state, has declined dramatically, and is another bird of global concern.

National Audubon Society coordinates the Important Bird Areas program in the United States. Audubon Chicago Region has identified significant bird habitat across Illinois based on peer-reviewed scientific criteria. The IBA Program focuses attention on the areas needed to sustain our native bird populations and helps private and public land managers provide the best stewardship practices for bird conservation on their properties.

The IBA program points out concerns and celebrates successes. Illinois habitats face many threats - chief among them are invasive species, disruption of natural processes such as prairie burns and drainage patterns, certain intensive farming practices, and destruction of habitat. The Chicago region, citizens, agencies, and other conservation partners have joined forces on many sites to improve habitat, and dramatic increases in bird populations have resulted.

Cook County Forest Preserve District’s Spring Creek Preserve is a great success story. When habitat restoration began six years ago, rare grassland bird populations were barely holding on. Through the hard work of the Cook County Forest Preserve District, its many partners and dedicated neighbors, hundreds of acres of grassland habitat have been improved and the numbers of rare birds such as bobolinks and Henslow’s sparrows have skyrocketed.

Audubon Chicago Region promotes the protection and proper management of birds, wildlife, and their habitats through advocacy and education. Audubon provides conservation leadership based on sound science with specific projects supporting habitat restoration, and natural areas monitoring and stewardship volunteers in the Chicago region.

The IBA program reminds us that our bird populations need help, that our state provides critical habitat, and that the excellent efforts of many talented individuals and organizations are needed to protect and maintain these habitats. More information about the program is available at www.audobon.org/bird/iba

Barrington Area Council of Governments

Groundwater Initiative

The 19 groundwater presentations to BACOG and its member villages and townships are complete! An additional community presentation was held on November 30th, and this filmed meeting with slides and videos can be seen at BACOG's website under “water resources/publications”.

Barrington Hills Board of Trustees received three (3) separate BACOG presentations on Ground Water in 2009. Barrington Hills is a significant source of quality ground water for the BACOG area. Activities in our Village directly and immediately affect the quality and quantity of the groundwater available to thousands of residents in villages nearby who, like us, do not have access to Lake Michigan water.

President Abboud was featured in Quintessential Barrington Magazine addressing the topic of groundwater. For the QB PDF click here.

Award to Grigsby Prairie

Barrington Hills Grigsby Prairie 2009 - photo courtesy of Debbie Stone

The Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness. This is the 10th year for this awards program. The goals of the awards program are to provide recognition for exemplary sites and projects within the Chicago Wilderness region which:

- Feature native landscaping;
- Demonstrate the principles and best practices of conservation-style development; and/or
- Restore ecosystems

A site can be nominated if it is within the Chicago Wilderness region and is owned by:

- A local government (or park district or school district);
- A non-profit organization; or
- A for-profit corporation
(i.e., the program does not cover single family homes)

In addition to providing recognition for exceptional sites and projects, the awards program is intended to raise awareness about conservation design, ecosystem restoration, and native landscaping practices and encourage others to implement these practices.

We are recognizing Grigsby Prairie this year. This is well-deserved recognition for the prairie itself and the work done to get it to where it is today. The award will be bestowed December 10 at the Awards Ceremony at the Botanic Garden. Here is some info (below) about the prairie. We hope you (and others, including in particular Tom V.) will be able to make it to the awards ceremony.

Best regards,

Bob Newport
U.S. EPA

CFC Note: This is a very special award.  Citizens for Conservation is deeply grateful to  Peggy Richards of Barrington Hills, who donated this land to CFC.  Without her generosity and gracious flexibility this renowned habitat restoration, an educational site widely enjoyed by school children and adults, would not have been possible.  Sam Oliver

Barrington Hills Grigsby Prairie- Award winner in 2009 - photo courtesy of Debbie Stone

Overview: This 42.4-acres prairie restoration in 1986, with only a few native species on the land. After 23 years of restoration, there are now 175 native species, some quite rare. Invasives have been mostly eliminated and continue to be controlled. The prairie is a source of seed for other local restorations, including a cooperative effort with Spring Creek Forest Preserve.

The land was farmland that has been donated by Peggy Richards in parcels since 1980 when the original 14.5 acres were given to CFC. Since then approximately every five years additional acreage has been donated. The land was being invaded by box elder and locust trees, buckthorn and honeysuckle bushes and reed canary grass.

Year around management activities include brush clearing, planting plugs and seeding, annual burns in various sections. Seed collecting started in 1992 as a seed source for other restorations. Bird monitoring is regularly conducted at the prairie.

As the prairie develops and becomes increasingly stable, species which might not have survived early on are now being restored. Burn patterns are being used to support the greatest diversity of plants and returning birds. Restoration work has been almost totally by volunteers over the years. CIC and volunteers spend approximately 1000 person hours per year in restoration and maintenance efforts at Grigsby.

Approximately 90% is now covered in native vegetation, with some non-natives still being crowded out. Invasives are constantly being pulled or herbicided.

CFC’s management plan guides ongoing work at the site. Biodiversity has been greatly restored at this site. From farmland, it is now habitat for 175 species of native plants in wet, mesic and dry prairie, wetlands and savanna. Some plants include prairie grasses such as prairie dropseed, Sporobolus heterolepsis; big bluestem, Andropogan gerardii; little bluestem, Andropogan scoparius. Many forbs, some rare, are thriving: wild white indigo, Baptisia leucantha; rattlesnake master,

Eryngium yuccafolium, spiderwort, Tradescantia virginiana; Indian paintbrush, Castileja coccinea, and four gentians. Because of the restored prairie ecology and its open aspects in a continuum from dry prairie to marsh, nesting birds now include eastern meadowlarks, bobolinks, dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows, sedge wrens, king birds, savanna sparrows, red-headed woodpeckers and bluebirds.

The restoration includes species from northeastern Illinois tallgrass prairies and savannas, specifically those found within a twenty mile radius of the Barrington Hills area. White fringed orchid seed has been sown and we expect to see these come up in the next year or so

Concern about Road Expansion in Barrington Hills

Barrington Area Conservation Trust is currently working with a number of Barrington Hills residents to protect the rural and scenic character of our residential roadways and to help prevent their expansion.

The Trust’s Heritage Corridor program aims to address possible future widening of roads which are currently being used as cut-throughs, including Otis, Old Sutton, Brinker, Oak Knoll, Bateman, Ridge, Plum Tree, Spring Creek, Meadow Hill, Braeburn, and others.

Here’s how it works: The Trust works with you to place an easement 10 to 20 feet from the edge of the roadway into your setback property. The easement is then held jointly by BACTrust and the Village of Barrington Hills. When enough easements are placed by multiple homeowners along both sides of the roadway, IDOT or other municipalities have a much more difficult time trying to widen that road. It is a very effective tool that Barrington Hills residents can use to help protect the scenic character of our back roads.

If you live along one of these cut-through roadways, you may be eligible to participate in the program. Call BACTrust at 847-381-4291 to find out more!

Fourth Graders on the Prairie - New CFC Collaboration

“Wow! This is ambitious and exciting!” “Whatever you need for me to do outdoors is fine!" “I think this is important and I am glad to help out if needed. If you need to beef up the person-power, fill me in whenever necessary, and let me know." “Let me know what you need and I’ll do it”.

What has prompted this outpouring of offers to be involved? Thanks to a two year grant from the Barrington District 220 Educational Foundation to the Barrington 220 Elementary Science Program, all 700 fourth graders will have a science unit on Prairie Preservation in their classrooms and will have a field trip to a prairie: Grigsby, Spring Creek or Flint Creek Savanna nearest to their school where they will hike, create drawings, take measurements and do the work of collecting seed for Prairie Preservation. This all happens in September and early October.

This collaborative effort began in June with two ½ days of introduction to the prairie and curriculum writing by the CFC and a group of Barrington 220 teachers and their science curriculum consultant. This was followed by fourth grade teachers studying the curriculum and hiking Grigsby Prairie in early August (to be followed by a similar session for the remaining fourth grade teachers in September). Recruitment for the many volunteers that are needed to carry out the project has been ongoing and gratifying. There are many CFC volunteers as well as Friends of Spring Creek Forest Preserve and the schools’ volunteer Nature Ladies who will be helping with this experience.

As described by the Foundation, this project is “a collaborative effort between District 220 and Citizens for Conservation that provides an opportunity for children to engage in the authentic work of “doing science” in Barrington’s distinctive environment of prairie and marshland. Along with classroom curriculum, students will have the opportunity to be “citizen scientists” and connect more with the natural world”.

An “advance team” from CFC will make pre-visits to all eight schools’ fourth graders to help them prepare for their roles as citizen scientists and their day on the prairie. Then, for two weeks each morning and afternoon, volunteers will be welcoming them to the prairie, school by school. John Muir once said, “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings…cares will drop off like autumn leaves”. Those of us involved in this new collaboration are eager to hike the prairies and “get their good tidings”.

NSG Program:

Starts with a Seed and Ends with a Seed

This spring the Native Seed Gardeners (NSG), sponsored by Citizens for Conservation, Friends of Spring Creek Forest Preserves, Audubon-Chicago Region, and Chicago Botanic Garden, placed over 3,000 rare native plants with enthusiastic volunteers. In its inaugural year, the program offered twenty-two prairie and savanna species with plants as rare as Baptisia leucantha (white false indigo) and as strikingly beautiful as Lilium michiganense (Michigan lily).

Trained volunteers collect seeds from natural populations in the Barrington area. A portion of the harvest is allocated to the Chicago Botanic Garden for propagation in their greenhouse over the winter. In spring the seedlings are given to the NSG program. NSG focuses primarily on plants whose seeds can be a challenge to find or collect in the field, as home gardeners can more easily monitor the ripening process. Program coordinators help volunteers learn when and how to pick the seeds when the plants are mature. This year during a five-day period, 311 volunteer gardeners throughout the Chicago area, some from as far away as Steger, IL, came to Citizens for Conservation’s headquarters to pick up their two-month old seedlings.

As Native Seed Gardeners quietly tend to their gardens, they cultivate a new source of precious native seeds that will have a profound effect upon our local restorations. These lands include various CFC preserves and the Spring Creek Forest Preserves. The NSG program provides an enjoyable way to educate the public about the value and beauty of native plants while creating ambassadors for conservation. Native seed gardening appeals to a wide range of people as diverse as the native plants they grow; yet all of the gardeners share in the ability to make a difference, both in our local conservation lands and in their own yards. More information can be found at http//www.Nativeseedgardeners.org.

The program welcomes volunteers. Please keep track of future opportunities to join the program by visiting the following websites:http://www.CitizensforConservation.org and http://www.SpringCreekStewards.org.

Flint Creek Receives Excellence Award

Barrington Hills view of Flint Creek in winter 2009 - photo courtesy of Laura Ekstrom

Congratulations!

Flint Creek Watershed Partnership has been selected to receive the Chicago Wilderness Excellence in Conservation award in the “Projects, Programs, and/or Initiatives” category! Flint Creek Watershed’s Action Plan has been chosen for its exceptional contributions in protecting biodiversity in the Chicago Wilderness region. The annual conference is the premier event to highlight the resources, science and collaborative conservation action of the Chicago Wilderness consortium.  Congress 2008 featured the strategic initiatives of Chicago Wilderness: Green Infrastructure, Leave No Child Inside, Restoration and Management, and Climate Change. 

Per the announcement letter sent by Ms. Melinda Pruett-Jones, Executive Director of Chicago Wilderness Alliance:

"The Flint Creek Watershed Partnership is an outstanding example of visionary planning that will ensure a healthy habitat for people, flora and fauna. The formation and growth of the partnership demonstrates an exemplary commitment to involving diverse stakeholders and government agencies. Laying the groundwork for restoration of the watershed has resulted in numerous positive steps including: the inventory of creek and detention basins; educating residents on each individual’s impact on the watershed; and beginning the implementation of the watershed plan with neighbors restoring a section of Flint Creek along the Flint Creek Dreamway Path in 2007.

The Flint Creek Watershed Partnership is to be lauded for its efforts to develop and strengthen partnerships among local government, not for profit organizations and other stakeholders. The thorough and thoughtful plan in which everyone can play a role results in everyone feeling engaged in this wonderfully ambitious plan. This project is an extraordinary model and source of inspiration everywhere. Restoring the health of the Flint Creek Watershed directly advances the mission and vision of Chicago Wilderness to preserve nature and enhance quality of life in the region."

The award ceremony was held November 13th at 4:00 pm at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Attending the award ceremony were Janet Agnoletti, Executive Director, Barrington Areas Council of Governments (BACOG)  Patsy Mortimer, Watershed Coordinator, Sam Oliver, Staff Director, Citizens for Conservation, and Lauren DeJesu and  David Raclaw, Village of Lake Barrington Trustees.

To learn more about these organizations, please visit: http://www.chicagowilderness.org or http://www.flintcreekwatershed.org.

Citizens For Conservation

Co-existing with Coyotes

Whether you know it or not, you are probably living with coyotes.  These adaptable creatures live in all parts of the state, including urban and suburban residential areas.  Largely nocturnal, coyotes often keep a low profile; but in some areas, they are increasingly a nuisance.  How can we learn to live with our state’s largest native predator which fills a vital ecological niche?

Chris Anchor, chief biologist for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, will discuss the fascinating behavior of coyotes on Saturday, January 23, opening the 2010 Citizens for Conservation Community Education series. A terrifically popular speaker in past years, Anchor will be back with exciting new research results. 

 The program will be presented at the Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Hwy.  at 9:30 AM.  Coffee and conversation begin at 9:00. Donations to cover expenses accepted at the door.  Please RSVP to the CFC office at 847-382-SAVE. 

CFC workdays are from 9 to 11 a.m. every Thursday and Saturday. Meet at the CFC office at 459 West Highway 22 in Lake Barrington. Look for the white farmhouse across from Good Shepherd Hospital. Dress for the weather.

Living Green - CFL Disposal

The subject of CFL bulbs can best be addressed in the following UEPA News Release:

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: Do Energy-savings Outweigh Mercury Hazard?

Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113 / heron.donna@epa.gov

PHILADELPHIA
With the issue of climate change on everyone's mind these days, people are looking for ways to cut down on energy use. Many people are turning to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which use 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

But there is also a concern because CFLs contain a small amount of mercury. One Pennsylvania resident recently emailed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mid-Atlantic region to ask what she should do:

"The problem with CFLs," she wrote, "is that these bulbs contain mercury and they need to be disposed of properly but the box does not give any instructions. Should we be more concerned with energy saving or mercury hazards?"

EPA's electronics recycling specialist Dan Gallo, who responded to the question, says the benefits of lower energy consumption outweigh the disadvantages but "EPA promotes and encourages the safe disposal of old CFLs to prevent the release of mercury into the environment,"

"Although CFCs do contain mercury, it is present in trace amounts -- five milligrams -- an amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen," said Gallo. "It would take 100 CFLs to equal the amount of mercury contained in older thermometers, which is about 500 milligrams."

The good news is that old CFC bulbs can be taken to Home Depot, IKEA and Ace Hardware for recycling. And Wal-mart is piloting a CFL recycling program at its stores in the Richmond, Va. area.

Since CFLs use 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs, if every American switched one incandescent bulb to a CFL, it would save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from 800,000 cars.

"Using CFLs is a quick and easy way for Americans to save energy and money everyday, while they also protect the environment," Gallo said.

But if a bulb accidentally breaks, proper clean-up is necessary.

"The first thing you want to do is to get everyone out of room, including pets," Gallo said. "Open a window to air out the room for at least 15 minutes. If you broke the bulb on a hard surface, take a piece of stiff paper or cardboard and scoop up as much of the debris and residue as you can."

Gallo advises to use an old glove or sock to protect hands and then wipe up any remaining residue with a moist paper towel. "If you broke the bulb on a carpeted surface, you'll want to use sticky tape to blot up any residue. Put everything in a plastic bag or a jar that can be sealed with a lid and dispose of it with the regular household trash."

For more information on CFLs go to:

http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/index.htm

http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/faqs.htm

Barrington Area Conservation Trust

Executive Director
Nancy Schumm-Burgess

Protecting the beautiful character of the countryside depends upon three key elements working together; private landowners, community planners, and the incorporation of conservation strategies in the development of the local environs. The BACTrust works with private residents and community leaders to bring the tools for land protection into the hands of the planners and landowners. With this strategy they have successfully saved 426 acres of open space and are working hard to protect even more. This year, BACTrust has launched a Heritage Corridor Program, accredited its Lawyers Roundtable, and worked successfully with local communities on updating their comprehensive plans.

BACTrust was founded in 2001 to help preserve the open space, rural character, and scenic, recreational, and natural resources of the Barrington, Illinois-area communities through advocacy, education, and promotion of responsible land stewardship.

Long term strategists have determined that the Barrington Area is one of the largest remaining connected ecosystems in Northeastern Illinois and it is at-risk for development. “The Barrington area’s combination of forest preserves and large private properties makes it one of the most important natural resource regions in the Chicago area,” said board president Mary Bradford-White. “That is why it is critical that we protect as much of the land as possible.”

Land protection is not just for the residents who enjoy it on a daily basis. Land protection extends its reach beyond borders by reducing local carbon footprints, providing habitat for flora and fauna, conveying water in healthy ways, and improving the quality of life for everyone who encounters it not only in this generation, but in future generations as well.

Board of Trustees
Mary Bradford-White, President
Elizabeth C. Bramsen
Lorraine H. Briggs
Bill L. Davis
Julie Ann Martens
Stevenson Mountsier
David F. Nelson
Glenn W. Reed

The Mission of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust

The mission of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust (BACTrust) is to preserve the open space, rural character, and scenic, historic, recreational, and natural resources of the Barrington, Illinois area communities through advocacy, education and the promotion of responsible land stewardship. They recently changed their name to more closely represent the communities that they serve. This spring, the BACTrust officially launched its Heritage Corridor Program in an effort to protect the rural roads that connect our neighborhoods. More details about this program, as well as information about establishing conservation easements can be found at www.BACTrust.org.

10 Things You Can Do To Preserve Our Heritage

1. Join Barrington Area Conservation Trust (BACTrust) TODAY!
2. Host a coffee with your neighbors to discuss options and tools for land preservation.
3. Talk to you neighbors and friends about BHCT.
4.  Ask a friend to join BHCT.
5. Give a membership to BHCT as a gift.
6. Support the Save Our Countryside acquisition program.
7. Leave a lasting legacy in your will. A post-mortem gift of a qualifying conservation easement can save significantly on estate taxes for your family.
8. Discuss conservation easement options with BHCT on your own land.
9. Volunteer to serve on a committee.
10. Include your employers matching gift program with your donation.

For more information about Barrington Area Conservation Trust, visit www.bactrust.org. Trust Executive Director, Nancy Schumm-Burgess. (847)381-4291