Harvey Creek Conservation Area in Sandwich designated environmentally friendly

Harvey Creek Conservation Area in Sandwich received the Conservation@Work (C@W) designation by The Conservation Foundation on Aug. 15.

Such properties are recognized for environmentally friendly and sustainable landscapes at public and business sites.

Located in the southeast corner of Sandwich on Lions Road near the Indian Valley Vocational Center, the Harvey Creek Conservation Area is the largest park in the Sandwich Park District. It consists of 30 acres of wetlands and prairie grasses.

The park district, with the help of an OSLAD grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in 1999, had the naturally existing wetland cleaned and much of it developed and planted as a wet prairie park for public use. The park now offers passive recreation for local residents with a picnic shelter and a well-used walking/running trail that extends about a half-mile around the entire area.

The reason for achieving certification from the Conservation Foundation is that about two-thirds of the property has been maintained for the park district as a native Illinois wet prairie by the staff of Pizzo and Associates of Leland, one of the top native landscape preservation contractors in the Midwest.

The prairie blooms from spring through fall with native grasses and wildflowers. The wetland area collects, filters and cleans water running off local farm fields and roads before it forms the headwaters of Harvey Creek, which feeds Little Rock Creek and the Fox River. The entire area also serves as a home for many species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

The Conservation Foundation is a nonprofit land and river protection organization founded in 1972. With the support of more than 3,500 members and 500 volunteers, it carries out its mission to preserve and restore open space and natural lands, protect rivers and watersheds, and promote stewardship of the environment in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties.

In addition, the foundation has been helping the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District acquire land for more forest preserves over the past decade. Since 2006, the foundation has helped the county pass an open space referendum and acquire three properties totaling more than 250 acres. In addition, the foundation holds a conservation easement on 35 acres of high-quality wetland and prairie near Leland.