We are excited to announce a very generous grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation for a major, 18-month restoration of CFC’s Craftsbury Preserve. This includes a three to one match for up to $21,000, plus additional funds based on 400 hours of volunteer work, and for publicity about the grant and our work, for a possible total of $32,000. This will allow us to contract for major brush removal so our volunteers can concentrate on the follow-up work that is essential to quality restorations.
Cuba Township provided funds for a thousand sedges being planted in Flint Creek Savanna South as we continue restoration of the wetlands in that preserve. Once our restoration volunteers remove the invasive reed canary grass, it is imperative to plant native wetland plants to replace the invasives and keep them from returning.
We thank the South Barrington Garden Club for funding supplies for our newly built Rare Plant Nursery at CFC headquarters, built with a grant from the Barrington Area Community Foundation last year. With the significant expansion of planting beds, our volunteer gardeners needed more tools, netting and gravel for paths. These beds are growing conservative native plants for seed to contribute to the biodiversity of our restorations and our work with the Barrington Greenway Initiative.
The Barrington Junior Women’s Club provided funds for CFC’s Youth Education to collaborate with Countryside School to plant a butterfly garden. Students and teachers learn about Monarch butterflies that need milkweed plants to lay their eggs and all butterflies that need flowers for their nectar. The BJWC grant also supported a program we provided to Hough Street School to learn about the habits, habitat and importance of raptors, with live owls and hawks as stars.
Once again, a grant from the Oberweiler Foundation supports our four interns for the summer. These are college students who are majoring in restoration ecology or related fields. While they provide essential help with CFC’s restoration and summer youth camps, and collaborate with our partners, they learn hands-on skills for their future careers.
Citizens for Conservation greatly appreciates the trust and financial support from these organizations to further our mission of saving living space for living things.