Lake County Forest Preserves, volunteers win awards

LIBERTYVILLE – The Lake County Forest Preserves and two of its volunteers have earned national awards.

The National Association of County Park and Recreation Officials is made up of 122 park and special recreation districts from across the country, of which the Lake County Forest Preserves is a member organization. The National Association of County Park and Recreation Officials issued the awards.

“We’re proud of the dedicated work our staff and volunteers do on a consistent basis,” Angelo Kyle, president of the Lake County Forest Preserves, said in a news release. “We are deeply grateful that they are being recognized for their efforts by such a prestigious organization.”

Outstanding Volunteer Award

Lake Villa residents Joyce and George Proper were given the Outstanding Volunteer Award. The couple has volunteered for decades and donated more than 10,000 hours in the past 15 years. They serve as preserve stewards at Grant Woods Forest Preserve in Ingleside, where they have led thousand of workdays to restore natural areas at the preserve and encouraged and trained other volunteers in native plant identification, invasive species management, seed collection and planting.

Kyle presented the Propers with a proclamation last week that honored them for receiving the national award.

“The [Propers] were instrumental in improving natural areas at the 1,200-acre Grant Woods preserve, one of the largest in the district, by enriching the biological diversity through carefully documented restoration and plant introductions,” the proclamation says. “The couple has worked tirelessly to restore the preserve, which has some of the highest habitat diversity in the district, including prairies, oak woodlands, sedge meadows, ravines and bogs. A third of the preserve is dedicated as an Illinois Nature Preserve in recognition of its high-quality natural areas.”

The Propers have monitored rare plants for many years – especially lady slipper orchids, sundrops, vetches and hepatica – with data collection and sharing to support local, regional and global analysis.

“We just love Grant Woods, and we enjoy helping to make it even more beautiful,” said Joyce Proper, who grew up exploring the grounds of the preserve.

Joyce Proper bakes cookies to thank and entice volunteers to return. Over the years, the couple regularly helped with volunteer workdays at Rollins Savanna, Marl Flat, Independence Grove and the Native Seed Nursery. Joyce was a longtime volunteer with the Plants of Concern program, monitoring rare plants at Grant Woods. The data is held by the Chicago Botanic Garden. The results help the Lake County Forest Preserves understand regional trends in management needs.

Conservation Award

The Growing Through Change project at Grant Woods Forest Preserve earned the Conservation Award. The award recognizes an exceptional effort to acquire, restore, preserve, operate or develop unique or significant conservation and natural areas or programs. The Lake County Forest Preserves has launched a research project at Grant Woods to restore 180 acres of former farmland within the preserve using a climate-adapted, regionally sourced native seed mix.

The goal of the project is to learn how to restore resilient native landscapes with plants that can withstand a shifting climate. The project engages seed producers, conservation organizations, neighbors, volunteers and landowners to build and sustain a demand for climate-adapted seed. Illinois’ climate is predicted to be similar to Oklahoma’s climate by the year 2050 and that of Texas by 2080, said Pati Vitt, manager of restoration ecology at the Lake County Forest Preserves. “The project will demonstrate if adaptability strategies using source-identified seeds from more southern and distant regions, coupled with hydrological restoration, are as successful or more successful than standard sourcing strategies.”