Purchase of former Boy Scout camp in Woodstock leads to recognition of local groups

The collaborative purchase of the 160-acre former Camp Lakota property in Woodstock led to the recent recognition of the McHenry County Conservation District, McHenry County Conservation Foundation, the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and the Illinois Audubon Society.

The Illinois Association of Park Districts gave the groups its 2021 Best of the Best Partnership Award, according to a news release from the McHenry County Conservation District.

The property, owned by the Boy Scouts of America for 50 years, was “one of the last remaining, high-quality natural areas in McHenry County,” the conservation district said. Its purchase this summer was led by the McHenry County Conservation Foundation.

The land is just north of the 1,630-acre Brookdale Conservation Area, and the acquisition has been deemed an important one by many federal, state and local conservation organizations because it is located in a migratory corridor and is home to a number of endangered or threatened wetland-dependent species, according to the release.

The Illinois Association of Park District award winners were recognized at the IAPD Best of the Best Awards Gala on Oct. 15 in Wheeling.