Kane Co. Forest District unveils plans for Brunner preserve
The initial phase of making the Brunner Family Forest Preserve more accessible for public use will kick off as soon as Kane County Forest Preserve District officials can secure a grant for improvements.
District officials unveiled an initial plan for the preserve at a forum Wednesday evening. Taxpayers who attended said they will be pleased to see any form of additional access to the preserve. The district purchased the preserve roughly three years ago, but access to the facility has been limited as the grounds remain mostly unimproved since it was home to the Brunner family.
The preserve is expected to see much more activity as parking lots will be introduced for the first time in the initial phase of improvements. In addition, the Dundee Township Park District plans to purchase several acres on the west side of the preserve for use with its own programming. The park district will also lease other land at the preserve from the forest preserve district, including a home that exists on the property, for either programming or administrative use.
The forest preserve district’s early ambitions hinge on a $400,000 matching grant it hopes to receive next spring to begin the improvements. The district will put up $800,000 on it’s own to receive the 50 percent matching grant. The first round of improvements represent what district officials believe they can accomplish with that $800,000 budget.
That money will buy taxpayers some prairie and wetland restoration along the river on the east side of the property. A 3.35-mile natural trail will roughly follow the river just west of the restoration area. Once the Longmeadow Parkway is constructed, which will bisect the northern region of the preserve, officials hope to add a bridge that will link the preserve to a paved bike path on the west side of the river. There are no plans for a gravel pit in the preserve as some residents had feared. There are also no immediate plans to connect the 3.35-mile natural trail to Raceway Woods to the southwest as district officials have not yet figured out a plan for a safe crossing over Rt. 31. For now, access to the 3.35-mile trail will be available via a parking lot at the Raging Buffalo snowboard park as well as the grass path that represents the remnants of the old runway on the site.
There are also a couple housecleaning issues remaining on the site. The district is in the 180-day observation period required by the Illinois EPA following remediation of a gasoline leak from an underground tank on the property. There are five other gas, diesel and airplane fuel tanks on the site. They’ve all been drained of the fuel and will also be eventually removed.
District officials do have some concern about possible lead contamination in some of the grasses on the property. The land was home to a skeet shooting range for about 50 years, which may have left quite a bit of lead pellets in the ground. Any existing lead is not believed to be a threat to the wetlands on the property.
Future improvements beyond the initial phase will be contingent on future grant funding and capital budgeting for the preserve. Officials said fishing and picnic areas as well as more trails are all part of the long-range plan for the preserve.