Donavan Goodwick of Sandwich, LaSalle County, describes the 23 acres he donated to Te Conservation Foundation along the Fox River near Sheridan as “about as wild as it comes.” He knew he didn’t want to sell it because he feared it would be developed.
He bought the property in 1977 and says the pristine nature of the land itself is an ideal habitat for wild turkey, deer, and coyotes, not to mention a virtual aviary with the bird species and wild plants that attract them.
Goodwick says the property abstract goes back as far as 1838. Te cottage was built around 1900 along with several others that attracted city folk who came
out to what was then a resort on one of two daily trains from the big city of Chicago. Tey’d stay a week or two, and then catch another train back. Goodwick is very pleased with the decision to protect this land. disturbed.”
“I didn’t want it LaSalle and Lake Counties
When Searle and Sue Wadley of Antioch in Lake County bought 125 acres along the Fox River in 1987, the large wetland was viewed as a swamp, “something negative about the property.” Searle said he and his wife Sue were into birds and thought the diversity of the land would be a mecca for all kinds of wildlife with the prairie, wetland, and wooded areas. He was right.
Since donating a conservation easement on their 100 acres to the Liberty Prairie Conservancy, he and his wife “combat buckthorn,” but leave much of it to Mother Nature. Tey get help from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for advice on how to better manage the wildlife, and the valuable wetland attracts many threatened and endangered species. Least bitterns, common moorhen, sandhill cranes, black terns, and yellow-headed blackbirds are just some of the species the Wadleys have observed.
Te noisy sounds of birds in the spring -- “the sandhill cranes can be quite loud” -- is something they welcome each year.
“It’s music to our ears.” Did You Know?
Both Kane County and the Kane County Forest Preserve District have used permeable pavers for their parking areas in front of the governmental center and as overflow parking for Cougar baseball games. Permeable pavers allow water to soak into the ground, recharging our aquifers, instead of allowing runoff that creates flooding and pollution. Permeable pavers also are used for streets, driveways and walkways.
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