McHenry Community Research Forest

The opportunity to preserve a nearly 100 acre stand of oaks in McHenry County is rare and the potential to study their ecosystem components in such a large block equally unusual.

However, as of July 15, 2013 one of these stands is now protected and will be known for perpetuity as The McHenry Community Research Forest. This project was made possible through a creative partnership forged between The Land Conservancy of McHenry County, a private landowner, the McHenry County Conservation District, and a grant from Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.

The Community Research Forest, located in unincorporated Harvard, IL is the assemblage of three parcels of land totaling approximately 93 acres. Two of the parcels (about 53 acres) were purchased outright by the Conservation District funded in large part by a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. Also included is a 40 acre conservation easement donated to TLC by Al Van Maren, a private landowner.

The Community Research Forest is a complex array of wooded natural communities dominated by white, red, black, scarlet and bur oaks intermixed with both young and mature 200-300 year old trees, including co–dominant species of bitternut hickory and black cherry.

The McHenry County Community Research Forest will provide an area for researchers, private land owners, college and high school classes, stewards, artists and others interested in the long term survival and viability of oaks in McHenry County and the region to study these ecosystems. It is to be a living laboratory dedicated to the future of McHenry County’s most ancient and venerable natural communities and is expected to draw attention from future research grant projects, universities and other partners that have a vested interest in the future of oak ecosystems in the region.

Integration into and use of the site by programs of TLC and the Conservation District will begin as early as this fall. The site will become an outdoor classroom available for TLC’s Oak Keepers and Project Quercus programs and as a field site for the Conservation District’s use in the People and Nature Program. It is envisioned to be accessible to the public on a regular basis, but not in the conventional sense of recreational trails. Rather its purpose is to provide a readily available site for ongoing educational programs and yearly hands-on seminars conducted in the field.

In the coming months, a written management plan for the site, including a research prospectus will be established. In addition a full natural resources assessment will be completed on the flora, natural communities, avian, herpetological and mammal components of the site. Necessary improvements made for general public access is expected by January 2015 when the site will be open for hikes through the woods.