News

Black Crown Marsh Deal Shores
Up 3,000 Acres

The prospects for nine endangered and threatened bird species in northeastern Illinois have improved with the purchase of 247 acres of premier wetlands. The expansion of the Black Crown Marsh ecosystem is the result of cooperation between the State of Illinois, the Lake County Forest Preserves, and CorLands.

Black Crown Marsh is of such high quality that it is listed as a critical area by the state’s Natural Areas Inventory and the Northeastern Illinois Wetland Protection Project. One of the largest unprotected marshes in the state, this site harbors the yellow-headed blackbird, osprey, black-crowned night-heron, sandhill crane, pied-billed grebe, least bittern, American bittern, black tern, and common moorhen.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources originally purchased about 185 acres in McHenry County, which were named as a Land and Water Reserve in 2001. Land and Water Reserves differ from Nature Preserves in that hunting and fishing may be permitted and archery deer hunting is currently allowed.

According to Joe Roth of CorLands, the additional land became available from Oakmount Game Club, one of the oldest hunting clubs in the state, which decided to close down when it realized that it would soon be hemmed in by housing developments. Its 247 acres straddled both McHenry and Lake Counties and were stocked with pheasant, quail, chukar, and turkey on a rolling landscape of wetlands, woods, and open water.

Because the owner did not want to deal with multiple buyers, CorLands stepped in with the more than $11 million dollars needed for both the state and Lake County to take immediate possession.

Lake County has made its 134 acres into the Black Crown Marsh Forest Preserve. Its plans include utilization of the clubhouse, possible hiking trails, and a link to the 500-mile Grand Illinois Trail.

The acquisition also brings the marsh to within a few hundred feet of Moraine Hills State Park in McHenry County. Together the marsh and the park add up to more than 3,000 acres of protected land, good news for the threatened species and people too.

— Elizabeth Riotto