"Saving Living Space for Living Things" through protection, restoration and stewardship of land, conservation of natural resources, and education.

PROTECT native plant and wildlife communities in the Barrington, Illinois area.  Although accepting land donations is our primary means of acquiring land, occasionally we purchase property that has great potential and natural importance.

INFORM the community about the value of natural resources and promote a caring attitude toward the environment.  Classes and field trips for both adults and children are a regular feature of our educational programs. We can verify and approve volunteered hours of applicants and members of the High School National Honor Society and Community Service programs (such as for local School District 220 in the Barrington area). Boy Scouts regularly perform service hours and Eagle Scout projects on our properties or in other areas under our guidance.

RESTORE and recreate native plant communities - prairie, savanna, wetland, and creek.  Restoration helps perpetuate the species of plants and animals that give these communities their special character.  In acting as stewards of the land, we transplant wildflowers, remove weeds, clear brush, and conduct controlled burns. We work with developers who need space for wetland mitigation and have an annual spring and fall native plant sale for people interested in landscaping their own yards with native vegetation.

We depend on volunteers to accomplish our various tasks. Our volunteers provide time and/or funds (we have several hundred dues-paying members). Our one of our primary programs is to restore natural habitat on properties we own as well as to critical areas in local Forest Preserves. All of the tracts are located in the vicinity of the Flint Creek watershed and School District 220 in the Barrington area of northeastern Illinois.

Volunteers represent a cross-section of the residents in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago.  First-time volunteers are sometimes surprised that we include business owners, students, teachers, engineers, gardeners and housewives, all committed to helping the environment. We recognize that we are tied to this area ecologically as well as socially and economically.  We do not advocate any specific ethical agenda, the important thing is that we all get together, have some fun, and when we can we educate each other about the issues we know as we get the work done.

Many of our volunteers participate in our weekly restoration workdays as their schedules permit, working in the great outdoors, but there is much more to CFC. We have educators teaching children's classes, and providing adult education programs. Other volunteers do office work or become involved with special community programs, fund-raising, newsletters, plant and animal monitoring and of course, website design and maintenance.   If you have a talent you'd like to share, we'd like to hear about it!

If you wish to help us financially, receive our newsletter and be kept up-to-date on our events and activities, please download the membership form and mail it to us. We will thank you for it! (We are known for being thrifty, so at this time we do not have a method for online donations. Sorry!)