THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
Simply put, The Conservation Foundation saves land and saves rivers, and has been at it for more than 40 years.
Founded in 1972, The Conservation Foundation (CF) is one of the region’s oldest and largest not-for-profit land and watershed conservation organizations dedicated to preserving and restoring open space, protecting rivers and watersheds and promoting stewardship of the environment in northeastern Illinois. The Foundation was established by business and community leaders who shared the love of the environment. Originally it was an organization that raised funds to purchase open space for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and to further its mission. Now though, instead of just operating in DuPage County, CF also operates in Kane, Kendall, LaSalle and Will County and the scope of its work has expanded to include many other programs.
CF’s main office is in south Naperville on the McDonald Farm off of Knoch Knolls Road. CF also has another office in Kendall at the Dickson-Murst Farm in Montgomery. The Foundation’s partner organization, the Green Earth Institute, operates an organic farm on the 60-acre farm in Naperville and the Resiliency Institute has built the first public, permaculture forest garden on The Foundation’s site.
Since The Conservation Foundation’s founding, it has preserved more than 33,000 acres of open space and natural lands. To accomplish this, CF focused on acquiring valuable land, facilitating land transactions between private property owners and public land preservation agencies and working with private landowners to place conservation easements on their property to protect it from development forever. Along with protecting open space, CF protects rivers and streams.
From the tiny creek running through your neighborhood to the mighty DuPage and Fox Rivers, The Foundation is working in the water, on the streets and around the conference table to improve the health of rivers and streams in northeastern Illinois. It conducts water monitoring and does hands on work with volunteer efforts such as Adopt-A-Stream, Storm Drain Stenciling and the DuPage River Sweep programs. For those who are interested, the River Sweep will be on May 20, 2017 in the upcoming year. These programs are funded through DuPage County Stormwater Management. The River Sweep just celebrated its 25th anniversary and in that time has had almost 12,000 volunteers and pulled 270 tons of trash and debris out of the water. That’s more than the weight of a 747 airplane! In recent years, CF has included restoration activities such as removing invasive plant species and replanting native plants.
If you would like to do your own native plantings in your yard or business, CF has Conservation@Home and Conservation@Work programs. These programs were launched as a way to educate and recognize homeowners, municipalities and corporations who take care of their property in a way that enhances our environment. Whether you create a butterfly or rain garden, preserve a woodland or creek or install a rain barrel, The Foundation wants your success to set an example for others. Join the almost 2,000 property owners already onboard with Conservation@Home and get your property certified as eco-friendly.
Not only does The Foundation recognize homeowners for their enhancement of the environment, CF provides classes for adults on water conservation and the benefits of native plants and teaches conservation to local school groups through the Mighty Acorns program. Throughout the year, school groups, scout groups and other volunteer organizations visit the McDonald Farm for educational classes and outings.
The 60-acre McDonald Farm in Naperville is the place The Conservation Foundation calls home. The Farm’s water conservation and renewable energy projects clearly demonstrate the environmentally responsible ideals CF stands for to all its visitors. CF is working hard to make McDonald Farm a showcase of conservation in action that will stir others to act as well. Everyone is invited to visit The Foundation at the Fall Fest on October 9th, 2016. The address is 10S404 Knoch Knolls Rd., Naperville, Illinois. To find out more about The Conservation Foundation, go to www.theconservationfoundation.org or contact Jan Roehll at (630) 428-4500 ext. 121 or by email at jroehll@theconserservationfoundation.org. The Conservation Foundation would like to hear from you.