McHenry County Community Research Forest— A Promise to the Future

The Big Woods of McHenry County once extended for miles from Marengo to Alden, straddling the steep topography of the Marengo Ridge. Today only scattered remnants of that massive woodland survive, with most of those blocks less than twenty acres in size. The opportunity

to preserve a nearly one hundred acre stand of oaks is rare and the potential to study their ecosystem components in a large block equally unusual.

However, as of July 15, 2013 one of these stands is now protected and will be known for perpetuity as The McHenry Community Research Forest. This project was made possible through a creative partnership forged between The Land Conservancy of McHenry County, a private landowner, the McHenry County Conservation District, and a grant from Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.

The Community Research Forest is the assemblage of three parcels of land totaling approximately 93 acres. Two of the parcels (about 53 acres) were purchased outright by the Conservation District funded in large part by a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. Also included is a 40 acre conservation easement donated to TLC by Al Maren, a private landowner.

The Community Research Forest is a complex array of wooded natural communities dominated by white, red, black, scarlet and bur oaks intermixed with both young and mature 200-300 year old trees, including co–dominant species of bitternut hickory and black cherry. The balance of the natural areas consists of sedge meadow, ephemeral ponds, intermittent streams, and former pasture.

Straddling the western edge of the Marengo Ridge near Harvard, Illinois, the site is part of a cluster of previously protected natural areas, a near contiguous stretch of land identified on the McHenry County Green Infrastructure Plan and the Conservation District Land Protection Plan as the Brookdale Oak Woodland and Wetland Complex. Together this cluster of oak ecosystem sites encompasses over 2,700 acres of protected land preserved by several entities and private individuals. The complex includes the District’s Rush Creek and Brookdale Conservation Areas, the TLC Gateway Park, Marengo Moraine, Woodstock Center and Frisbie Conservation Areas, and the privately owned Halo Hills Nature Preserve.

The Community Research Forest functions as a standalone research site while also serving as an important component

of the Conservation District’s Land Protection Plan for the Big Woods section of the county.

Unlike conventional grant projects which attempt to complete ecological restoration work as quickly as feasible, the MCCRF would purposely forgo quick brush clearing and seeding projects in favor of a more comprehensive and well documented research approach. The Community Research Forest will take a different approach to accomplishing restoration goals. The site will be divided into small management units with different treatments utilized to accomplish restoration goals over an extended period of time.

The results will be carefully measured and quantified in order to accurately compare management techniques and then provided to the conservation community as a whole to further the region's understanding of oak ecosystems at the private and public level of ownership.

In the coming months, a written management plan for the site, including a research prospectus will be established. In addition a full natural resources assessment will be completed on the flora, natural communities, avian, herpetological and mammal components of the site. Necessary improvements made for general public access is expected by January 2015 when the site will be open for hikes through the woods.

Integration into and use of the site by programs of TLC and the Conservation District will begin as early as this fall. The site will become an outdoor classroom available for TLC’s Oak Keepers and Project Quercus programs and as a field site for the Conservation District’s use in the People and Nature Program.

It is envisioned to be accessible to the public on a regular basis, but not in the conventional sense of recreational trails. Rather its purpose is to provide a readily available site for ongoing educational programs and yearly hands-on seminars conducted in the field. It is to be a living laboratory dedicated to the future of McHenry County’s most ancient and venerable natural communities and is expected to draw attention from future research grant projects, universities and other partners that have a vested interest in the future of oak ecosystems in the region.

The McHenry County Community Research Forest will provide an area for researchers, private land owners, college and high school classes, stewards, artists and others interested in the long term survival and viability of oak ecosystems in McHenry County and the region a resource for important research.

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McHenry County Conservation District operates 33 sites open to the public and has a Natural Resource Management staff of 15 including ecologists and natural resource specialists. In addition, the Research Field Station conducts advanced research on ecological questions, and how they relate to the long term management and viability of natural areas. In addition the RFS offers an active college and adult learner internship program in natural areas management and operates the People and Nature Project. The program brings intensive single day or weekend educational opportunities to the general public, volunteers and stewards on topics related to understanding and managing Northeastern Illinois rich legacy of natural land.

The Land Conservancy of McHenry County, a 501 (c)(3) has preserved over 2,000 acres of land: 1,700 through donated conservation easements on private land ranging from 1 acre to 250 acres. TLC has coordinated Project Quercus since 2006, raising awareness of the need for management and preservation of privately-owned oak woods. An important component of TLC’s Project Quercus is the Oak Keepers program through which volunteers are trained to conduct basic ecological surveys of privately held oak woodlands. Sixty-five Oak Keepers have been trained since 2008, and together they have surveyed over 1,000 acres of woods, providing valuable data about the character, health and composition of these privately-held woods. These programs are aimed at building a “Corp of Citizen Scientists” knowledgeable about oak woodland ecology and restoration and this project will provide abundant opportunities to further that cause.

The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation’s mission is to improve energy efficiency, advance the development of renewable energy resources and protect natural areas for people in communities all across Illinois. Over the past thirteen years, the Foundation has provided $191 million in grants to Illinois nonprofit organizations, schools, municipalities and other local and state government agencies.

Private Conservation Landowner Al Van Maren donated a permanent

conservation easement on 40-acre of the land he owns in

unincorporated Harvard. Al who operates Al’apacas at Dutch Mill Farm, chose to make a commitment to oak woodlands for the future and in doing so provided the catalyst to make the McHenry County Research Forest a reality. He will continue to own and enjoy the property, but will know that it will be preserved in perpetuity.

McHenry County Community Research Forest Partners:

Oak Study and Preservation The McHenry County Conservation District’s landmark Oak Study completed in 2005 chronicled the cumulative loss of oak ecosystems in McHenry County from 1837 to 2005 which revealed 82% of the county’s oak ecosystems (woodland, savanna and barrens) had disappeared. Nearly 2,900 individual blocks of oaks were mapped county wide. Of this number only 5.4% or 157 stands contained 25 or more acres of contiguous oak cover and only eight blocks featured 100 or more. In the eight years since the study another several hundred acres of oaks have been lost including one of the 100 acre blocks developed into residential housing.

While the study produced sobering information, it also acted as a catalyst for action. With 84% of the remaining oak woods located on private property, the Land Conservancy of McHenry County initiated Project Quercus, a comprehensive partnership between the public, private and non government organization sectors

to address the future of oaks within the county. Project Quercus also initiated the Oak Keepers volunteer outreach program that does assessments of oaks in private holdings. Both programs have served to generate enormous interest among oak stakeholders concerning the best methods and practices for managing remaining oak remnants and on how to expand oak acreage. Project Quercus created public awareness on the fact that oak preservation and expansion is a multi generational commitment that requires long-term, ongoing research and experimentation on how best to manage and enhance these ancient ecosystems, especially in the face of new invasive species and climate change.

Management of oak ecosystems is occurring on both public and private lands in McHenry County. Specific research projects related to oaks are also being undertaken by universities, public agencies, non government agencies, private industry and numerous individual landowners. These research projects vary in scope, design, distribution of results and are often conducted for short periods of time, typically less than five years.

The McHenry County Community Research Forest’s large remnant oak ecosystems will allow for experimental management to occur over several generations. It is the logical next step in the preservation efforts underway in the county directed at oak ecosystems. It can provide a permanent anchor for such efforts that stretches across multiple conservation efforts and cement already close working partnerships from members of the conservation community.

To look upon a landscape and see its potential; to determine what techniques are needed to restore it to its most optimal health; to understand the value of protecting large stands of oaks; and to realize the far reaching effects a decision will have on the future survival of oak woodlands—these are the visionary components that prompted the collaboration to preserve a block of approximately 100 acres of oak woodland that will serve as an area dedicated to the study and promotion of oak woodland management for generations to come.

Al V

an M

aren

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