A Crusade to Save Our Prairielands
By Scott Richardson;srichardson@pantagraph.com
A desire to save natural areas took root in Chip Henrichs as he grew up outdoors.
His childhood dream became a reality last year when he launched the McLean County-based Prairielands Preservation Foundation. His purpose is to accept donations of land, money and conservation easements to protect environmentally sensitive areas from development.
Henrichs, who manages commercial and farm property and owns a fair share of his own, was the first to donate a conservation easement – a 52-acre site valued at $230,000 on the Mackinaw River near Lake Bloomington.
More recently, the foundation partnered with the city of Bloomington to preserve 160 acres just north of Evergreen Lake. The property stretches away from a viewer who stands on top of the city reservoir’s dam and looks north toward the Mackinaw River.
Henrichs bought 70 acres from an estate for the project. He also arranged for a $500,000 grant from the Clean Energy Foundation so the city could buy the other 90 acres. The property is contiguous to the city-owned and county-managed Comlara Park. The deal closed about a month ago.
Henrichs and Prairielands Preservation board member Robert Tucker hope to return the land to native prairie, restore wetlands and plant soft and hardwood trees.
A portion of Henrichs’ 70 acres will continue to be farmed for a while to help cover its cost. The conservation easement he gave the city of Bloomington means the land will never be developed.
“It’s a great piece of property, and I didn’t want to see it subdivided,” said Henrichs. “You look at the Mackinaw River Valley and there’s houses springing up all over the place. We wanted to preserve it. I’m tired of seeing houses on ecologically sensitive land.”
Future plans for the Prairielands Preservation Foundation are clear, he said.
“The goal is to acquire as much ecologically sensitive land as we can through purchase, gifts and easements,” Henrichs said.
Added Tucker, who works at State Farm Insurance Cos., “Green spaces mean a lot to the quality of life.”
Henrichs delights in describing work he’s done on about 800 acres of land in Iowa. The place has become home to many species of birds. He saw five Bald eagles feeding on a deer carcass there not long ago.
Initially, the primary uses of the new property north of Evergreen Lake will be hiking and wildlife viewing. Hendrichs and Tucker also plan to have areas where students can learn about restoring prairie, wetlands and other ecosystems, they said.
“To show how to give back instead of take,” Henrichs said.
His vision also includes future game management programs similar to the controlled hunts for white-tailed deer at Comlara Park and the ParkLands Foundation needed to reduce deer browsing on native plants.
He is optimistic. Remnant native grasses like Big Bluestem and Indian Grass reappeared on their own when the previous owners halted cattle grazing on the land for a while.
Henrich’s attorney is Guy Fraker, a member of the board of the ParkLands Foundation that has done similar work to preserve and restore natural areas in Central Illinois. He also held a position on a state land preservations commission for several years. He lauded Henrichs, Tucker and the Prairielands Preservation Foundation.
“This is total innovation. It shows what can be done when people put their minds to it,” Fraker said,
Fraker sees no conflict between groups like ParkLands and Prairielands. Indeed, the Blagojevich administration has been notorious for diverting money away from state funds meant to purchase natural areas as well as strangling the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Natural History Survey. As a result, responsibility for moving Illinois from the cellar when it comes to open lands per capita in the United States falls to the private sector.
“There is so much to be done, there is no competition,” Fraker said.
“The more the merrier,” agreed Henrichs. “Preserve as much as possible.”
Turkey totals
Hunters harvested 15,792 wild turkeys, the second highest total ever, during the 2008 spring season.
The harvest included 15,159 turkeys during the regular seasons in April and May and 633 turkeys taken in the youth seasons. Harvests were up over last year in both zones.
“We are very pleased with this year’s spring turkey harvest,” said Paul Shelton, Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ forest wildlife program manager. “The South Zone started out slowly in cool, rainy weather, but improved over the course of the seasons and finished with the largest fifth-season harvest ever. In the North Zone, conditions were generally favorable for turkey hunting, although cool weather and heavy rain on the final Sunday during the fifth season dampened results slightly.”
IDNR records show the largest spring turkey harvest was 16,605 in 2006.
Scott Richardson is Pantagraph outdoor editor. Contact him at (309) 820-3227 or email srichardson@pantagraph.com. Share stories and read past outdoor and fishing columns at www.pantagraph.com/ blogs
(c) 2008 Pantagraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.