Quiet No More

I want to share some facts about implementation of the County’s new Conservation Design Subdivision regulations.

Implementation is a joke.

The County staff are rapidly turning it into an ordinance to give developers the ability to dramatically increase density on sites, while virtually ignoring the natural resources, and mass grading the entire site (in at least some instances).

Oh, the problem isn’t the issue of “density bonuses” that some worried about, no, none of the projects that have been reviewed to date actually meet the standards for any bonuses, yet they are seeing density increases of 30-70%.

That’s right. How about a development that was previously platted with 60 1-acre homesites that is now winding its way through the approval process to resubdivide so to have 103 one-third acre homesites! Yep, that’s right, a 70% increase in the number of homes that will be built – a 70% increase in traffic, a 70% increase in spray-irrigated sewage, etc etc.

And to boot, they are mass grading the entire site – you can drive by it right now on Church Road in Coral Township.

And now there are folks who would like to submit the County’s ordinance for awards, and to highlight the “success” at the regional level. I am outraged.

There was a point in the conversation about the new ordinance where I encouraged people to support this step by the county board, thinking (naively) that perhaps with such a clear policy direction as is written into the ordinance, that surely, the staff couldn’t get away with screwing this one up too.

Well, I was wrong, and I am not afraid to admit it, and had I known then what I am seeing now, I would have fought adoption of the ordinance.

To the County Board’s credit, I do not believe that the majority of them are even aware of what the staff are doing to completely disregard the intent of the ordinance. They are not likely to realize what is taking place until the staff have moved enough “lots and lots of small lots” style projects through the pipeline, that an effective precedent has been set, and the County Boards’ hands will be tied.

I lay this travesty at the feet of the County staff – who work for the County Board – and I will be expressing that to the County Board at their meeting tonight. Something has to change, and soon.

It is time for those of us who care to speak up. There is so much at stake, and we need to remind the county board that there are a lot of people who care about the county and that we are looking to them for strong leadership.

The list of public abuses and failures is long when it comes to the Planning & Development Department – in just the last few years, I've seen them waste $400,000 on the failed 2020 plan, publicly attack volunteer planning commission members and the public during the 2030 planning process, fail to enforce the 4-year-old stormwater ordinance (have you driven by the intersection of Route 176 and Ballard Road?), and tell landowners that the motocross track operating in your back yard (ruining property values and threatening sanity) is permitted in the agricultural district! The list is long…

This is our county too, and I am sick & tired of watching a small group of people trying to destroy it.

Ephemeral Ponds

On April 19th, Mike Redmer from the US Fish & Wildlife Service gave a tour of ephemeral ponds in the High Point area of Alden Township to a group of about 15 local residents.

Mike slogged through several seasonal ponds in his wading boots, pulling frogs, salamanders, aquatic insects and other tiny critters out for the group to see. He has a magical ability to find these often "invisible" residents of the spring ponds.

Ephemeral ponds are those that do not hold water throughout the year, but are typically only flooded in the spring due to the winter snow melt and the spring rains that cause the ground to be saturated. The ponds exist long enough for frogs and other small animals to emerge, but then disappear as the ground dries up.

These small, fleeting spots play a critical role in the lifecycle of these aquatic animals, but they are not very well understood by most people. The Alden High Point area is one of the richest regions in all Chicagoland for these ephemeral ponds, and so provides a critical habitat area for frogs, turtles and salamanders.

The last photo shows three salamanders that Mike fished out of a window well near one of the areas that the group explored. He commented that salamanders often fall into uncovered window wells, and die because they cannot climb back out.

The Ephemeral Ponds program was held as part of a series of three landowner educational programs that TLC is offering this year in the Alden Township area. There will be a second program on May 12th covering headwater streams, springs and seeps and led by Cindy Skrukrud from the Sierra Club. The final program in the series will take residents on a tour of oak woodlands in the Alden area in June.

Do you love oaks?

McHenry County has lost 87% of the oak woodlands that we once had, and if nothing changes in the next few years, we might lose the rest (well, most of them anyway)!

The vast majority of these ancient beauties are found on private land -- and if oaks are going to continue to be an integral part of our local landscape for future generations, private oak conservation will be essential.

Whether you have oaks on your property, or just love oaks, you can be part of making sure oaks are part of the local scenery in another 100 years.

Saturday, May 31st will be the inaugural training for Oak Keepers!

This is a project under TLC's Project Quercus banner that will train volunteers how to monitor oak woodlands. The Oak Keepers project will help us start to understand the challenges facing these resources so that we can help landowners preserve their oaks.

So, if you love oaks, you can be an Oak Keeper too! Just contact the office (by phone at 815-337-9502 or by email at Quercus@conservemc.org) and ask that we add you to the Oak Keepers mailing list!

I look forward to seeing you May 31st!

Getting Ready for Spring!

There is so much going on this year at TLC -- or there are so many cool projects in the works, especially for Spring! Here is a run down on the next few months:

- March 29th, prescribed/ecological burn training at TLC offices with burn at Westwood Park

- April 5th, ecological burn training at Prime Industrial Park, McHenry, coordinated by TLC for the business park's business owners (like Medela, Follett, and others) who are interested in using ecological burning to manage the nice wetland that is in the middle of the park

- April 5th, Garden Fest at MCC - TLC will have a booth there, giving local residents a chance to order their 60 gallon rainbarrels at a wholesale price of $79!

- April 19th, TLC sponsored Ephemeral Ponds program in Alden Township with Fish & Wildlife Service's Mike Redmer

- April 23rd, Deadline for Rainbarrel orders

- May 9 & 10, pick up Rainbarrels at the TLC office

- May 10th, TLC-sponsored Seeps, Springs & Streams program in Alden Township with Sierra Club's Cindy Skrukrud

- May - date to be determined - Project Quercus training for oak woodland monitors!

Check out the TLC website: http://www.conservemc.org/ for more information!

We love Chad!

Chad Pregrake, President & Founder of Living Lands & Waters is our new hero!

As personable as he is enthusiastic, this young man and his "take no prisoners" style of hands-on conservation charmed about 200 people at TLC's Annual Meeting Sunday January 27th.

Technical glitches with the audio visual equipment didn't phase him, and in some ways, probably made the program that much more charming!

Chad shared his story of how he started Living Lands & Waters, a non-profit organization that has been working for 10 years to clean up the Mississippi River and other major rivers in the United States.

As a teenager, Chad helped his brother, a commercial fisherman, with claming, spending hours in the dark, on the bottom of the Mississippi River blindly searching for clams. In the process, he learned how filthy the river was - decades-old piles of tires, barrels, cars, broken boats, refrigerators - you name it, he saw it.

As Chad researched how to tackle the problem, he found out that no one was working on it, and all the government agencies said there was no money to do anything about it.

So he decided to go the NASCAR route and seek corporate sponsors. As Chad quipped "I can wear patches!" (like the NASCAR drivers do). He picked up the phone and called Alcoa - one of the largest corporations in his hometown of East Moline (the Quad Cities of Illinois & Iowa). And he kept calling, and calling, and calling, until one day he got the President on the phone who agreed to give him 10 minutes.

Well, 10 years, and 24 million pounds of garbage later, Chad has had a huge impact! A houseboat and fleet of barges comprise the "World Headquarters" of Living Lands & Waters - a mobile operation that inspires hundreds of young people to volunteer as crew members to do the hard, filthy, and often dangerous work of cleaning up our nation's rivers!

The core message that Chad brought to our audience is that everyone can make a difference - you just have to make up your mind that that is what you want to do, and then go for it!

1415

1415

Not the year, but the number: 1,415

is the number of acres that TLC - working with private landowners, communities & developers - has permanently preserved since 1991 through conservation easements, land donations and land acquisition.

732 of those acres were preserved in 2007! (If you're doing the math, that means 682 acres were preserved prior to 2007).

We completed 11 projects in 2007, and nine of those were in the last two weeks of the year!

No wonder we're tired!

Mouse Control Update

NOTE: if you are at all squeamish, do not read this article!

We arrived in the office this morning to a dead, headless mouse! Last fall, we adopted two kittens to help with controlling the mouse population (the mice have made themselves known by little droppings on our desks, in our coffee cups, and the occasional gnawed piece of chocolate).

There's our Trixie with the lifeless body. I'd be happier if it weren't so grizzly. (I've been told that this is how nature works - predators and prey...)

But, what about the head? Did they eat it? Eeew!

Also, who was the killer? Lil' Ed or Trixie? They're about the same age, and the same size. But neither seemed to show much interest in the dead little mouse.

An hour or so later, I noticed Lil' Ed playing with something near a rug in my office... You guessed it, the head!

Ick.

At least we know Lil' Ed & Trixie are earning their kibble.