Open-space conservationists meet first 1,000-acre goal

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Updated: April 6, 2011 8:44AM

GRAYSLAKE — Lake County’s alliance of open-space advocates say they reached their first-year goal in the drive to preserve 1,000 acres annually for the next 20 years.

According to the Liberty Prairie Conservancy, in 2010, protected open space in Lake County grew by 1,612 acres, with the Lake County Forest Preserve District purchasing 1,588 acres and Lake Bluff protecting 24 acres. The new lands provide wildlife habitat, trail connections and flood protection.

As a result, the amount of permanently protected open space in Lake County had risen at the opening of 2011 to 50,816 acres or 17 percent of the county. The group’s ultimate goal is for 20 percent of the county — 60,000 acres — to be preserved.

“I wish each year could bring the kind of results we saw in 2010,” said Steve Barg, executive director of the Conservancy, the nonprofit that two years ago formed the alliance of 17 groups to create a unified goal. “It was an unusually productive year for open-space protection in Lake County. Kudos to the Lake County Forest Preserve District for maximizing their dollars in a tight market.”

The district bought land in more than a dozen locations throughout the county, including Dutch Gap Forest Preserve in Antioch, Kestrel Ridge Forest Preserve in Volo, Bluebird Meadow Forest Preserve in Lake Villa and Mill Creek Forest Preserve in Old Mill Creek. The Liberty Prairie Conservancy facilitated their purchase of 30 acres on a moraine adjacent to Almond Marsh Forest Preserve in Libertyville.

Lake Bluff partnered with Lake Bluff Open Lands Association and the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission to place 24 village-owned acres in the state’s Land and Water Reserve program. This connects to parcels already preserved by Lake Forest Open Lands Association and the forest preserve district, creating a continuous block of 190 acres.

Nonprofit conservation groups helped to make two of the 33 transactions possible.