Illinois: Forest Board approves preserve expansion.

The purchase of 60 acres in Antioch and Lake Villa, Ill., for $1.8 million as an addition to Sun Lake Forest Preserve was approved by the Lake County Forest Preserve Board of Commissioners last month. The 60-acre addition expands Sun Lake Forest Preserve to 581 acres. This land buy increases the total number of acquisitions made using funds from the successful, voter-approved November 2000 referendum to 28, and the total acres of Forest Preserves in Lake County to 24,770 acres.

The new addition to Sun Lake features a portion of the East Loon Lake Advanced Identification wetland complex. This high-quality wetland is a refuge for several state threatened and endangered species, and is a designated Illinois Natural Area Inventory site Threatened (T) and endangered (E) species include the Black Tern (E), the Pugnose Shiner (E), the Blackchin Shiner (T), the Blacknose Shiner (E), the Banded Killifish (E), the Iowa Darter (E), American Sloughgrass (E), the Grass-leaved Pondweed (T), the White-stem Pondweed (E) and the Fern Pondweed (E).

The addition features a nice mix of woodlands, wetlands, open fields and rolling topography. The property also has roughly 550 feet of frontage on East Loon Lake. The site provides for the preservation and restoration of the immediate watershed to East Loon Lake and Sequiot Creek by providing a greenway corridor along the creek that connects Sun Lake Forest Preserve to East Loon Lake. The purchase meets many of the land acquisition goals set forward in successful Forest Preserve bond referenda to protect valuable natural resources, provide recreational opportunities, protect against flooding, and expand existing preserves.