Giving Thanks

As the month of November comes to a close, and before the ever-busy month of December begins, I wanted to take a moment to express my thanks for 2009.

Thanks to the Board Members of TLC for being such excellent stewards of the vision that started this organization twenty years ago! In 1989, the idea of a local land trust working with private landowner to preserve those precious places in McHenry County that would otherwise fall through the cracks was just that - an idea! Over the last twenty years, the board of directors has ensured the vision and mission are clear, and the work moves forward! Thank you!!

Thanks to the awesome women I work with every day: Linda Balek, Cheryl Perrone and Jackie Eberle (shown here on a vernal pool outing with easement donor Susan Tauck). They are so much more than "employees"! Each one of them finds ways to go above and beyond her job description every day to make The Land Conservancy more than the "sum of their parts," and to do what each can to build an organization that embodies the mission and vision. THANK YOU!

Thanks to the growing number of conservation easement donors for choosing to preserve their land - forever - by permanently restricting future development. These individuals want to make sure that generations yet unborn will have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty and bounty that the land provides! Ninety percent of the land TLC has preserved was protected by these private conservation agreements! Their choices will have a lasting impact on the landscape of McHenry County. We are grateful to each of them for choosing to work with TLC to preserve their land!

Thanks to the many volunteers who work to help restore the land, complete mailings, file documents, and run events. TLC is a small organization in some ways, but the combined effort of our volunteers makes us mighty indeed! The scope and scale of work that volunteers make possible cannot be understated! TLC's volunteers ROCK!

Thanks to TLC's members and supporters. In these times of economic uncertainty, we are so fortunate to have steady supporters who make this work possible. Their (your!) support means that nearly 1,800 acres of McHenry County land have been permanently preserved forever. Remember, TLC does not collect tax dollars to pay our bills or to buy land! We work closely with private landowners to help them preserve their land - forever. And member support makes that possible.

There are many more thanks to give, for there are many individuals and organizations who do what they can to make this work succeed! Thank you all.

Driving (me) Insane

Did you ever think about the amount of space in our communities that is devoted to parking? A lot. Next time you go to the store, note the size of the parking lot. Guaranteed, it is huge.

Americans are obsessed with our cars. We drive to work. Drive to the store for a gallon of milk. Drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Drive to the pizza place to pick up a pie for dinner. Drive, Drive, Drive.

In McHenry County, the average person has a commute of greater than half an hour each way, each day, and the vast majority of those people drive. They drive alone in their cars to and from their jobs five days a week.

My husband and I are very average in that way. His commute is about 35 minutes each way, and mine is about 25. I manage to carpool once in a while with a co-worker, but not nearly as often as I should.

All this driving has consequences to the environment, generating carbon dioxide and other exhaust chemicals that contribute to air pollution. The reliance on the car has impacts on our health too. We don't walk as much as we should -- when was the last time you walked to the store? the library? to visit a friend? Are you carrying a few extra pounds? Do you drive to the gym for a work out?

But the rest of the world is very different.

My friend Kathy Bergan Schmidt sent me this article from the Milwaukee newspaper. The author lives in Spain, where he and his family DO NOT OWN A CAR. Get this, they walk. Walk to the store. Walk to the movies. Walk to visit friends. Their property taxes are also a fraction of what ours are.

I bring this up because the McHenry County board is reviewing a new land use plan for the county, and the draft that was given them by their planning commission proposes that tens of thousands of new residents move to areas that are currently farmland, and are far removed from jobs, schools and shopping. This type of development is commonly known as sprawl.

Studies by American Farmland Trust and others have shown that sprawl is expensive for communities. It is more expensive to provide services like school buses, fire protection, road maintenance, etc. to all those scattered homes. So, taxes increase to cover the costs -- taxes increase for everyone, not just the folks who live in sprawlville.

And the crazy thing is that there are rumors that some board members think that even more sprawl should be permitted.

Let's think about this:

more sprawl = more cars on the road

more sprawl = less walking, more driving

more sprawl = higher property taxes

Any questions?

Seed Shraring Success!

Halloween 2009 included a trick or treat of sorts for adults this year - seed sharing in Alden Township!

The table full of bags is an adult version of candy bowls - each bag containing seed from a different plant species, and all organized by habitat type. Instead of choosing between Snickers, Kit Kats, or Starburst, the seed sharers were grabbing handfuls of Monarda fistulosa, Zizia aurea and Rudbeckia triloba. I wish I had a good photo of one of the adults with a look of glee on her face while finding that species that she had been looking to add to her restoration!

Thanks to Orrin & Patricia Bangert for opening their garage to the seed sharers as a base of operations, and thanks to the Bangerts, Randy & Karen Stowe, Rich & Renee Dankert, Colleen & Lou Moeller and Kay & Dick Pfundt for opening their properties to the thirty or so seed sharers who came out Halloween morning to collect native seed from these mature restorations to either enhance or expand their own restoration projects.

This is the third year that TLC and the WPPC have teamed up with the Alden Township seed group to share their natural abundance with restorationists across McHenry County. Seed Sharing was initially the idea of George Johnson, former Alden Township resident who had a big influence on the spread of prairie and wetland restoration in the township.

The photo at right shows George (on the left) talking with Lou Moeller (on the right with a cup of coffee). Lou & his wife Colleen purchased the Johnson's house when George and his wife Marilyn moved to Madison Wisconsin a couple of years ago.

One of the most exciting things about Seed Sharing is seeing the restoration bug pass not just to new landowners each year, but to a new generation of landowners!