Forest district might add to land in Fremont Township
The acquisition wouldn't be as large as recent buys, but the Lake County Forest Preserve District again wants to add to its Fremont Township holdings as part of a much larger complex of natural areas.
Forest board committees next week will consider buying 29 acres as an addition to Ray Lake Forest Preserve. It would be the fourth addition since November, representing an investment of about $13 million for 443 acres in the area between Gilmer and Fremont roads.
Known as the Diebold property, the open land is north of Erhart Road and adjacent to the most recent acquisition of nearly 62 acres. The price is $911,400 or $31,000 per acre.
"This one is kind of important because it's got Squaw Creek," said Jim Anderson, the district's director of natural resources.
That will be an important feature in restoring this parcel and adjoining land in coming years to a complex of wetlands and grasslands that will attract birds and other wildlife, he added.
"It's part of what we're calling a strategic habitat conservation area," Anderson said.
The Diebold piece, like the $2 million acquisition last month, is northeast of Ray Lake's main entrance on Erhart Road. With willing sellers and a dwindling supply of cash for land acquisition, the district has been busy assembling properties officials envision being part of a 5,000-acre collection of habitats considered strategic for several wildlife and plant species.
"We have initiated conversations with the latest purchases in that area," said Ty Kovach, the district's executive director. "We are working to build on an existing preserve and create an even larger complex."
Besides Ray Lake, the bigger picture includes Lakewood Forest Preserve, the district's largest, and non-forest preserve areas like Bangs Lake that provide habitat for waterfowl or endangered or threatened plant and animals, according to Anderson. The oak woodlands and savannas, bogs, open water lakes, marshes and prairies provide for a "a very diverse collection of rare species," he said.
The focus will be connecting the new acres to Lakewood and restoring the recent purchases to wetlands and grasslands in what will be a treeless landscape with scenic vistas throughout the Ray Lake preserve.
Kovach said property prices vary depending on the topography and other factors, but the cost for purchases has averaged about $31,000 per acre, he added. If approved, the district would have about $7.5 million left for land acquisition from the $185 million in funding approved in 2008 by voters.
"I think it is mainly a timing thing with the sellers in that it is just a point in their life where they are willing to sell," Kovach said.