News

Kane County Saves Big Virgil Open Space

An 80-year-old commitment that every township in Kane County, Illinois, would have a forest preserve was finally fulfilled in August, when the Forest Preserve District of Kane County scooped up 1,117 acres of farmland in Virgil Township. The acquisition cost of about $30 million almost wiped out the remaining funds from a $75 million referendum passed in 2005.

The parcel, to be called Virgil Forest Preserve, will be the district's second largest. It lies just northwest of the town of Virgil and juts out in two sections on either side of Sauber Road near Lees Road. Virgil Ditch 3, an old drainage passageway, slices through one section, while Virgil Ditch 2 skirts the border of the other. On the south, the preserve abuts the Great Western Trail.

Lying on a floodplain, the land is currently in corn and soybean production.

Although no formal assessment of plants and wildlife has yet been done, Director of Natural Resources Drew Ullberg believes land management will include restoration of large, open prairie areas as well as smaller woodlands. It also may be possible to return streams to their original course and break drainage tiles.

The purchase follows Kane County's 2030 Land Resource Management Plan, which calls for 50 percent of the county to be left in agriculture and open space if 50 percent of the population increase can be contained within the critical growth area along the Fox River and within the urban corridor.

— Elizabeth Riotto