Grant to help restore land in Woodstock for new bison grazing area

More than $35,000 in grant dollars will go toward restoration efforts at the newly established bison grazing area at Pleasant Valley Conservation Area in Woodstock.

The grant will allow McHenry County Conservation District to convert 90 acres of row crop to prairie and enhance 33 acres of grassland and 50 acres of oak savanna within the bison grazing enclosure, according to a news release.

The McHenry County Conservation Foundation secured the $36,630 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Habitat Fund, while also partnering with conservation district and Ruhter Bison, a family-owned bison farm in Murdock, to provide $285,782 in matching funds.

The restoration work will improve habitat for multiple species in the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan, including the eastern meadowlark, monarch butterfly, Henslow’s sparrow upland sandpiper, bobolink and ring-necked pheasant, according to the release.

The grant also supports the reimbursement of a seed harvester, which allows the conservation district to collect more than 1,300 pounds of native seeds per year that are then used in habitat restoration projects on other conservation district properties throughout the county.

The conservation district and Ruhter Bison introduced six bison at Pleasant Valley in December as a natural land management tool for prairie ecosystems and grassland habitat to benefit breeding birds and other wildlife.

For more information, go to mccd.me/bisongrazing.