McHenry County Blog

Tuesday afternoon a public hearing will be held at the McHenry County Administrative Building on Ware Road in Woodstock from 4-6 to obtain comments on the proposed Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge.

If you can’t make it there Wednesday from 4-6, you’ll have another chance at the Ringwood Lost Valley Visitor Center in Glacial Park north of Ringwood.

If you would like to comment without leaving your home, you can do so at this email address:

r3planning@fws.gov

Openlands created this Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge map. It is used with permission.

The McHenry County Libertarian Party sent the following information about open houses being held at the County Administrative Building and the McHenry County Conservation District’s Lost Valley Visitor Center concerning the Fish and Wildlife Service’s wildlife area in northern McHenry County and Southern Wisconsin:

The short version … The Feds are looking at taking 10,000 – 30,000 acres of residential area and possibly turning it into a wild life refuge.  They are reviewing 300,000 acres of McHenry County and parts of southern WI.  Read through both PDFs at the link.

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/planning/Hackmatack/

You are invited to share your thoughts with Fish and Wildlife Service planners at open house events scheduled in October.
Two open houses are scheduled in Illinois:

• Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the McHenry County Government Center Administration Building, which is located at 667 Ware Road in Woodstock, Ill.

Wednesday, Oct. 13, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lost Valley Visitor Center, Route 31 and Harts Road, Ringwood, Ill.

You can find more information here.

Openlands created this Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge map. It is used with permission.

Last week, the McHenry County Board endorsed creation of a wildlife refuge in northern McHenry County and southern Wisconsin. Now a feasibility study has been approved by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The following press release has been issued by Openlands:

HACKMATACK UPDATE:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Approves Feasibility Study

TERRIFIC NEWS! The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) has approved the preliminary project proposal for Hackmatack and will now move forward with conducting a feasibility study.

Another Openlands map showing ecological assest of the proposed refuge area, used with permission. (Click to enlarge any map.)

The study is an important next step in making the refuge a reality and ultimately designating its boundaries.

The study area includes portions of McHenry and Lake counties in Illinois and Walworth, Racine, and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin.

Still another map, this one about connectivity and biodiversity, from the Openlands study, which McHenry County Blog has permission to republish.

Openlands Policy Director and McHenry County resident Lenore Beyer-Clow has been instrumental in leading advocacy efforts for the refuge, and we will continue to work with The Trust for Public Land and the local Friends of Hackmatack grassroots coalition to conduct outreach and gain additional support. We will also continue to coordinate efforts with the USFWS as they conduct the study. (Learn more about the study here.)

This is an exciting project that illustrates the potential for significant landscape-scale conservation that gives people an opportunity to connect with nature, the foundation of Openlands’ mission.

This bi-state refuge would provide extensive recreation and education.

For more information about this project, please contact Lenore Beyer-Clow at 312-863-6264 or via e-mail.

To support this project and many other sustainable green initiatives throughout northeastern Illinois and the surrounding region, please consider making a contribution to Openlands today: