Easement granted to rare gravel prairie
In 2011, Renata and Mariuz Bialas bought a 15-acre wooded lot in Barrington Hills from television personality Jenny Jones. They fell in love with the property for its surrounding woods and privacy.
Unbeknown to them, the property included an ecologically unique space - a gravel hill prairie.
Gravel hill prairies are island-like patches of prairie vegetation occurring on otherwise wooded, steep slopes that face south or southwest. This type of hill prairie is very rare, with only a handful in existence in Illinois.
While researching the property, the Bialas family discovered that, if sold, their lot could be subdivided into three different buildable lots. In an effort to ensure that the entire parcel remained intact, the Bialas family reached out to the Barrington Area Conservation Trust to see how they could protect the property.
Through BACT, the Bialas family put a conservation easement on the prairie.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a nonprofit conservation group or public agency that limits use of the land, while allowing the landowner to maintain ownership of the property. An easement runs with the land.
For the gravel hill prairie, the easement limits development so that the rare prairie will remain intact for future generations, regardless of whether the Bialas family retains ownership of the property.
Conservation easements often qualify landowners for tax reductions, depending upon the specifics of the easement.
This past January, BACT partnered with L.L. Bean and offered a public hike on the gravel hill prairie. About 30 hikers met and members from BACT staff and L.L.Bean took turns explaining the science behind the prairie, the animal tracks and unique soil and flora on the land. Renata Bialas shared the history of the property.
"I feel better knowing the land can't be developed," she said. "The easement is a good way for people who love open space to protect it."
If you are interested in placing a conservation easement on your land, contact Lisa Woolford at Lisa@bactrust.org.