CONSERVATION
FLINT CREEK RECEIVES EXCELLENCE AWARD
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.
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 Fling 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 is scheduled to take place November 13th at 4:00 pm at the University of Illinois at Chicago. To learn more about these organizations, please visit http://www.chicagowilderness.org or http://www.flintcreekwatershed.org.
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
- Join Barrington Area Conservation Trust (BACTrust) TODAY!
- Host a coffee with your neighbors to discuss options and tools for land preservation.
- Talk to you neighbors and friends about BHCT.
- Ask a friend to join BHCT.
- Give a membership to BHCT as a gift.
- Support the Save Our Countryside acquisition program.
- 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.
- Discuss conservation easement options with BHCT on your own land.
- Volunteer to serve on a committee.
- 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
Local Resident Donates Land to Barrington Area Conservation Trust
Barrington Hills Resident Jenese Busch has donated a beautiful parcel of woodland property to the Barrington Area Conservation Trust to ensure that her favorite natural site will be protected in perpetuity. The Jack David Mondshine Wildlife Conservation Area, named after Mrs. Busch’s father, a man who loved nature, is located in the northwest corner of Barrington Hills. The parcel will remain private property under the protection of the BACTrust.
The importance of this donation to the preservation of the character of the Barrington area cannot be understated. The 5.28 acre site borders Algonquin and Barrington Hills and acts as a buffer between a more densely populated area and the rural edges of Barrington Hills. The site features a ravine and an intermittent stream corridor, which eventually leads to the Fox River. The site is home to fox, deer, coyote and other wildlife. In a recent interview, Mrs. Busch stated that her primary motivation for protecting the land was to protect the wildlife that lives there.
The Jack David Mondshine Conservation Area, Resident Jenese Busch property
donated to the Barrington Area Conservation Trust, Photo courtesy BACTrust
The BACTrust accepted the donation because it supports the mission of the organization and because the land is an important parcel that will aid in the protection of this water recharge area. For further information, please contact BACTrust Executive Director, Nancy Schumm-Burgess. (847)381-4291
Citizens for Conservation
Donna Bolzman
September 2008
Citizens for Conservation Hosts National Public Lands Day
National Public Lands Day is our nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands that Americans enjoy. Last year 110 ,000 volunteers worked in 1,300 locations and in every state. Join Citizens for Conservation on Saturday, September 27 from 9 to 11 a.m. for the 15th annual National Public Lands Day. Volunteers of all ages and family groups will help collect seed of native plants which will then be processed and sown in local preserves. New volunteers are welcome. .
Meet at CFC headquarters, 459 West Hwy 22, the white farmhouse with a silo across from Good Shepherd Hospital in Lake Barrington. Bring work gloves and dress for the weather. If questions, call CFC at 847-382-SAVE (7283).
CFC Late Summer and Fall Events
Citizens for Conservation Begins Fall Seed Collecting Schedule
Citizens for Conservation restoration volunteers are in full swing in their fall seed collecting schedule: Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a. m., Saturdays, 9:00a.m. -11:00 a.m and Sundays, 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Volunteers meet at Citizens for Conservation headquarters, 459 West Highway 22, Lake Barrington, at the white farmhouse with a silo across from Good Shepherd Hospital.
Seed collecting can be done by volunteers of all ages and is a great fall family activity. New volunteers are welcome. Seed of a wide variety of native plants is collected and used in CFC preserves in the Barrington area and is shared with many non-profit organizations for their local restorations. If questions, call CFC at 847-382-SAVE (7283).
CFC Ongoing Activity
Our summer interns are done collecting macro invertebrates in Flint Creek for water quality monitoring. Seed collecting season will start at our workday on Thursday, September 4. That means we will be collecting (harvesting) seed from native plants at every one of our workdays from September 4 through the end of October. September 7, we will add Sunday workdays from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Seed collecting is easy to do - suitable for anyone ages 9 to 90 - and so important to restoring native Illinois tallgrass prairie to our area. Please join us!
CFC Workdays
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. Wear sunscreen. Bring work gloves, something to drink and bug spray.
Restoration Report
One of the things the interns did for us this summer was collect seed from two spring forbs, violet wood sorrel and prairie violet. This was a real boon for us because spring flora are the hardest to restore – for three reasons:
1. They set very small amounts of seeds. The interns collected only about 4 tablespoons from the violet wood sorrel they found, however, this represents thousands of seeds.
2. Their seed ripens quickly and is on the plant just 2 – 3 days before it falls to the ground or is carried away by animals or the wind; they have very tiny seeds.
3. They are short plants ..at most 6 inches high..so when we go to collect the seed they are hard to find among the other taller woodland or prairie plants
In the last few years, with the help of our summer interns, we’ve made a concerted effort to “be there at the right time” to collect seed from spring flora like shooting star, hoary puccoon, and the plants mentioned. It’s paying off! Luckily the seed that we sow comes up really well and establishes itself. From then on, it will spread on its own. The benefit of a good, dense stand of spring flora is that, since it comes up early, it can crowd out the early invasive plants like sweet clover, the nemesis we’re facing right now. That’s a good reason to try to get the spring forbs well-established; it’s less work for us!
Here are links to the plants mentioned above from whom we recently collected seed:
Violet wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea) --- http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/vlt_sorrelx.htm
Prairie violet (Viola pedatifida) --- http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/pr_violetx.htm
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Conservation Related Volunteer Opportunities
– Not CFC Sponsored –
See the News Archives Page for programs winding down in the fall of 2008.
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