Group out to save McHenry County's oak groves
When 17th century French explorers first arrived in the area northwest of present-day Chicago, they marveled at the region's vast oak groves, writing that it was as if a higher power planted each tree individually to maximize their beauty.
Hundreds of years later, the beauty of those groves remains in what is now McHenry County, but ecologists fear that may not be the case for much longer.
With the increasing pressures of development, poor management and sparse efforts to replace dying trees, the number of oaks has fallen precipitously, down to just over 10 percent of what it was when European settlers arrived in the 1830s.
Fearing it may be now or never for McHenry County's oaks, a group of governments, environmental groups and arborists are banding together to save what's left.
"Not only have we cut down a lot of trees for construction, but a lot of what's left out there is sick and dying," said Lisa Haderlein, executive director of the Land Conservancy of McHenry County. "People are going to have to intervene to change the situation."
That was the philosophy behind the Land Conservancy creating Project Quercus (Latin for oak), a joint effort of nurseries, villages, state and federal agencies and tree-related businesses to save McHenry County's remaining oak groves.
Since its founding, the group has started an award program for tree conversation efforts, held workshops for owners of properties with oaks and planted about 100 oak saplings at four locations.
This week, members of the group appeared before the McHenry County Board seeking to make tree preservation a part of an ongoing update of the county's subdivision ordinance.
Among the group's members are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission and the village of Algonquin. The latter is doing its part to preserve oaks and other trees through a village ordinance that requires builders to make every effort to preserve trees and replace those they have to remove.
"We have these great natural resources and we want to do the best we can to preserve them," senior village planner Katie Parkhurst said.
A recent study by the McHenry County Conservation District says that when McHenry County was established in 1837, it was covered by 143,000 acres of oak and hickory groves.
A century later, that figure was down to 26,350 acres. Today, the estimate is below 18,000.
"We have very few opportunities left," said Ed Collins, Natural Resources director for the McHenry County Conservation District. "If they're going to be saved, we have to act."
Action will not only retain the aesthetic value that oaks provide, preservationists said, but also will save a part of the county's character.
"What's going to distinguish us in the future is our landscape," Haderlein said. "Other parts of the Chicago region don't have this. It says something about who and what McHenry County is."