CFC’s Preserves

Click here to see a map displaying the location of the properties described below.

CFC’s conservation efforts over the years have impacted properties:

  • Either owned by CFC’s or over which CFC has a conservation easement,
  • Owned by others—like the 17-acre Bakers Lake Savanna, which is owned by the Village of Barrington; but, for the past 34 years, has been restored by CFC in cooperation with the Village, and
  • Where CFC has influenced others in their acquisition and development of preserves.

CFC’s real estate holdings currently total 501 acres, including thirteen owned preserves and two parcels where we have conservation easements.  Much of this land has been generously donated or funded with grants. And the balance has been purchased with the proceeds of various CFC fundraising campaigns.

Grigsby Prairie in Barrington Hills was CFC’s first prairie restoration project. Since Grigsby's inception in 1987, CFC has employed a variety of restoration techniques that have achieved amazing results at this 44-acre tallgrass prairie preserve. Nesting birds include meadowlarks, bobolinks, Henslows sparrows, grasshopper sparrows, sedge wrens, Eastern kingbirds, savannah sparrows, red-headed woodpeckers and Eastern bluebirds. Grigsby also provides habitat for 175 species of native plants in wet, mesic and dry prairie and in wetlands.  These native plants are now so well established that this site has become CFC’s top seed harvesting location.

Flint Creek Savanna in Lake Barrington is CFC’s largest and most diverse preserve with 160 acres that include our farmhouse office, nearly a mile of creek course, four oak and hickory groves.  CFC’s restoration efforts, dating back to 1988, have produced spectacular results generating acres of restored wetlands and prairie which now include more than 200 species of grasses, sedges and wildflowers. Three birds from Illinois’s list of “species in greatest need of conservation” nest here: savannah sparrows, sedge wrens and, every year since 1998, sandhill cranes.

Among the numerous restoration projects at Flint Creek Savanna:

  • a prairie pothole near the east entrance, considered one of the best wetland restorations in the Chicago area
  • a series of ponds and filter marshes that slow and cleanse storm water before it flows into Flint Creek from the west
  • two gravel hill prairies near the office parking lot that are based on concrete debris from the old barn.

This preserve is the linchpin in CFC’s vision of a greenway, a protected corridor of natural areas, along Flint Creek from Barrington Hills in the south to the Fox River in the north.

One of CFC’s newer properties is the Craftsbury Preserve, now made up of two parcels totaling 53 acres, located in Cuba Township to the east and the west of North Hart Road just south of Cuba Road. This intriguing property contains both wetlands and uplands giving CFC the opportunity to restore a whole continuum of prairie, sedge meadows and grasses and approximately 10 acres of deep marsh wetlands.  Restoration, which began in 2015, has already begun to transform the preserve as a wildlife sanctuary.  The restored land provides ecosystem benefits such as flood control, ground water recharge and carbon sequestration.     Once Craftsbury’s natural areas have stabilized, CFC will create a nature trail to allow public access.  This access will satisfy the requirements of the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation (ICECF) grant that was instrumental in CFC acquiring the west section of this preserve.

Farm Trails North (18 acres) and Wagner Fen (43 acres) are located in Lake Barrington while Barrington Bog (45 acres) is in North Barrington.  All are dedicated Illinois Nature Preserves. This designation by the state assists landowners in protecting high-quality natural areas and habitats of endangered and threatened species in perpetuity.  Bogs and fens are specific types of wetlands that were once more common in Illinois, but now survive only in scattered remnants. Each wetland preserve supports unique plant communities and provides habitat for both common and rare wildlife. The Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, which depends on the turtlehead plant, is one species that thrives only in fens.

Hawley Lake Marsh (17 acres in Barrington Hills), Heron Marsh (48 acres in Cuba Township), River’s Bend (12 acres in Lake Barrington), Steyermark Woods (1 acre in North Barrington), and Twin Ponds (23 acres in Lake Barrington) are preserves maintained in their current natural state for various practical reasons

In 2019, the Joan Y. Mullins Preserve, a 5-acre site in Barrington Hills, was donated to CFC.  We have not yet initiated stewardship activities there.

CFC’s newest property is a 24.88-acre parcel of open space adjacent to the Mullins Preserve and Rt 14 in Barrington, which CFC acquired in March 2022.   This property, called The Highlands, is strategically located between three other CFC properties —See map below--and continues to fulfil CFC's long-range mission of saving and building habitat corridors for native plant and wildlife species.

In addition to its owned property, CFC has conservation easements over two parcels in Barrington-- totaling almost 6 acres.

Examples of a property where CFC played a role in its restoration is the Spring Creek Forest Preserve. This nearly 4,000-acre parcel is located in Barrington Hills and is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.  It consists of prairie, savanna, woodland and wetland.  This is the largest restoration project undertaken by Cook County and, over the years, CFC has participated by providing planning expertise and by contributing native seed and volunteers.

Other examples are Cuba Marsh and the Grassy Lake Forest Preserve where CFC leadership played a role in encouraging the Lake County Forest Preserve District to purchase these properties.  And, over the succeeding years, CFC volunteers have devoted numerous hours to their restoration

Preserve Profiles

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Baker's Lake Savanna

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Barrington Bog

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Craftsbury Preserve

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Farm Trails North

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Flint Creek Savanna

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Grigsby Prairie

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Heron Marsh / Twin Ponds

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The Highlands

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Hill 'N Dale Preserve

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Steyermark Woods

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Wagner Fen