Farmlands Preserved, Wetland to Be Restored in Kane County

In 1935, Timothy Garfield sold 99 acres of his Kane County farmland to the Mongerson family. Garfield's land eventually became the Garfield Farm Museum. In July, 2002, the fence that separated Garfield's land from the Mongersons' for 67 years came down in an acquisition that increases the Garfield Museum's holdings to 370 acres.

The new acreage buffers Garfield Museum's own natural acreage and that of Campton Hills Park (CW, Winter Œ01). While the majority of the acquisition will be leased out for continued agricultural use, the new revenue will allow the museum to pull 32 other acres of crucial wetland out of production to be restored. This will bring Garfield's total natural acres to more than 70. The land encompasses prairie, marsh, and sedge meadow, including the ecologically significant Mill Creek Prairie and Sedge Meadow, 20 acres of which were never plowed.

"This is an excellent groundbreaking example of farmland preservation that is an important component of environmental preservation and restoration," says Museum Director Jerry Johnson. "It also creates an intact 2,000-acre corridor of open space running through three townships in the center of rapidly developing Kane County."

The acquisition was realized through the generosity of the Grand Victoria Foundation, the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, the Hansen Furnas Family Foundation, the Kane County Riverboat Fund, the USDA Farmland Protection Program, and Garfield Farm donors. A Campton Township Open Lands contribution completed the acquisition.

— Elizabeth Riotto