Ray Lake Forest Preserve to expand with acquisition of ‘keystone properties’
A substantial pending addition to the Ray Lake Forest Preserve in Fremont Township is considered an important acquisition for land restoration in the area.
The Lake County Forest Preserve District is poised to buy two adjacent parcels totaling 131 acres north of Gilmer Road and west of Erhart Road for $6.1 million.
“These are two keystone properties for us,” said Ty Kovach, executive director. “This is extremely important for the restoration work we'll be doing at Ray Lake.”
The acquisitions consist of the 51-acre Giambrone parcel for $4.3 million and the 80-acre Honey G. Farms property for $1.8 million.
According to the district, the acquisitions will permanently preserve open space and enable it to expand wetland restoration and mitigation already planned for a portion of Ray Lake Forest Preserve to the east.
They also will adhere to district’s adopted land acquisition goals of protecting wildlife habitat, preserving wetlands and scenic vistas and serving as a “visual, topographic and ecological extension” of other district properties.
A home and other buildings on the Giambrone property will be evaluated and demolished if they can’t be used for district purposes.
About a quarter of the Honey G. Farms property is farmed and the rest is natural wetlands and trees.
Both purchases were recommended this week by the forest board's planning committee and will be considered by the full board Wednesday.
Besides increasing the size of Ray Lake, the acquisitions are adjacent to the former Cuneo property, where the district is creating a wetland mitigation bank.
In that scenario, developers whose projects will impact wetlands elsewhere can purchase credits from the mitigation bank.
“It’s quite large project, actually,” said Pati Vitt, director of natural resources.
Vitt said the acquisition is exciting because of its size and location with the potential to create a “really large-scale wetland system, which is what existed 250 years ago.”
“It really does help us restore a larger wetland footprint than we would be able to do otherwise,” she added of the pending purchases.
According to a news release, the district over the past 15 months has made strategic acquisitions to protect sensitive natural areas, improve trail connections and expand open space in eight locations using proceeds from a $20.5 million limited bond issue.