By Wendy Paulson

It is not unusual for volunteers to receive recognition for five or 10 years of service at the annual meeting of Barrington’s Citizens for Conservation (CFC). Last February Greg LeFevre was honored with a 10-year award, along with several other restoration volunteers. But Greg was just 14 years old at the time.

Greg’s dad, Bob LeFevre, started volunteering with CFC in the late 1980s, when the local conservation group began a prairie reconstruction project in Barrington Hills, later named Grigsby Prairie. Sometimes he brought his two young sons to workdays. "I liked to be outside," says Greg, "so I tagged along with Dad."

Greg came week after week. He harvested seed, piled cut brush, weeded, and sowed seed as the prairie expanded. He still says he volunteers mostly because he loves being outside. But on further reflection, he admits that he likes the sense of accomplishment. "You can look back at the end of the day and see a hillside cleared of buckthorn, and it really makes you feel like you’ve done something."

Early on, it became clear that Greg was a natural at restoration work. He learned to recognize blazing star, prairie coreopsis, sideoats grama, and other prairie species in their seed stages and needed little or no instruction on seed-collection outings. He worked hard and became a resource and inspiration to adult volunteers. "He’s very dedicated," says CFC volunteer Gail Vanderpoel. "You can tell he’s not going to get tired of restoration work."

A group including young Greg LeFevre seeds the snow at Grigsby Prairie. Photo by Wendy Paulson.

This past summer, Greg was hired by Citizens for Conservation as one of three full-time summer interns. He was by far the youngest intern in the five-year-old program — and also the most experienced. Greg was an easy choice for the job, which attracts a large pool of applicants. "We knew what kind of worker he was," says restoration coordinator Tom Vanderpoel. "We knew his knowledge base and how he interacted with other volunteers. Some of the applicants aren’t ready to tackle hard work."

Greg says that as an intern, "you definitely get to do more of the whole job. "I knew my dad was always the first to come and last to go, but I didn’t appreciate all the preparation and wrap-up for volunteer days. I no longer could work from 9 to 11 as a ‘convenience volunteer.’ As an intern, I felt more responsibility. I was expected to perform. I couldn’t just watch the sunset."

While he has worked at a variety of Barrington-area restoration projects, Grigsby Prairie continues to be Greg’s favorite. "I'm more partial to open prairies. When bobolinks began nesting here, I knew it was becoming a really high quality place. And it has diversity, a variety of micro-ecosystems — wetlands, mesic areas, a bit of savanna, hills with little bluestem. It’s quiet," he adds, "which makes it different from the other restoration areas. You feel really welcome here."

When he's not involved in restoration work, Greg's tastes still run to the outdoors. He took a week's vacation with his family last summer in the Bighorn Mountain region of Wyoming, where he could do what he loves: hike, camp, backpack, fish.

Now a sophomore at Lake Zurich High School, Greg has returned as a volunteer to collect seeds from native plants on weekends. Seed harvesting remains one of his favorite activities. "Autumn is my favorite season, and I like being in rural areas and along the railroad tracks," he says. "It’s a more social occasion and gives you a real sense of accomplishment. Anybody can do it; you don't need to be in special physical condition."

While he’s unsure of precise future plans, Greg is clear about the quality of his own endeavors in the restoration arena. "Maybe I have a guilty conscience," he says, "but I feel I have a responsibility not only to perform a job, but to do it for the future of the restoration — on a very local level, but really as a citizen of the earth. Others feel they have to do well in sports or school, but this is what I want to do well at."