News

McHenry Secures High Point

A group of McHenry County neighbors known as the Harvard Seed Group have been working for decades to restore native prairie and savanna on their loose patchwork of private lands. Their land sits within a three-mile circle known as “High Point,” so-called because it contains the highest glaciated elevation in the state, at 1,189 feet. Together this hardworking, nature-loving bunch has restored half of their 800 total acres to natural habitat.

Last October, the McHenry County Conservation District (MCCD) paid $1.9 million for 204 acres that connect some of the neighbors’ parcels. Dubbed High Point Conservation Area, the new preserve invites collaboration across public-private borders.

The district purchased the oak savanna and wetland complex with a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the remaining funds from a 2001 referendum. The referendum, which gave MCCD $68.5 million for land acquisition and restoration, provided funds for the acquisitions of nearly 7,000 acres of natural land. MCCD now owns more than 20,000 acres.

“To preserve and to protect requires land acquisition. So that’s the first step,” said executive director Elizabeth Kessler.

The second step, she said, gets to the root of the district’s mission: restoration. This summer, the district will begin by inventorying High Point’s natural communities and identifying the threatened and endangered species. At the same time, site stewards and volunteers recruited by the resource management team will begin removing invasive species before a controlled burn later in the year. In the future, the district hopes to provide long-term public access, with a focus on passive, ecologically compatible recreation.

The MCCD’s work at High Point will complement the Seed Group’s holdings, helping to establish ecological links between the parcels. Now native species will have that much more room to grow.

— Meghan Watt