Citizens for Conservation (CFC) is BCN’s newest affiliate, joining the coalition in late 2024.
Saving Living Space for Living Things
Citizens for Conservation had its beginnings in 1970, when a group of area residents became concerned about the habitat destruction that suburban sprawl was causing to the Barrington area’s lakes, streams, savannas, wetlands, and prairies. In an effort to preserve local native habitat, CFC was incorporated in 1971 as Barrington’s own nonprofit conservation organization. It adopted as its mission statement: Saving living space for living things through protection, restoration and stewardship of land, conservation of natural resources and education.
Currently Citizens for Conservation has grown to 777 acres of land at 14 different Barrington-area locations. Much of its success today comes from the strength of its membership and volunteer base, which continues to grow each year. Last year 357 volunteers logged 12,113 hours of service!
Protect, Educate, and Restore
Guided by its mission, CFC has a growing list of new initiatives and activities:
- Volunteers are busy year-round at CFC’s oldest properties as well as planning and implementing new restoration goals at recently acquired properties. Volunteers show up for year-round twice weekly restoration workdays to remove invasives, conduct controlled burns, collect and distribute seeds, and plant natives. They also help with weekly spring and fall bird hikes to area preserves that are open to all.
- Citizens for Conservation values education in the community and getting young people outdoors. The Educational Speaker Series runs from January through April, bringing in experts on a variety of topics relevant to local habitats. CFC hosts 4th Graders on the Prairie every year, a summer camp for younger children, and paid internships for local college students. There are annual “Butterfly and Pollinator” hikes at our restored prairies, and an annual tradition of participating in the Barrington 4th of July Parade.
- CFC maintains a native plant database on its website as a community resource for anyone interested in their own restoration efforts and conducts two plant sales every year to provide access to native plants.
- Eco-monitoring is one way of measuring the success of restoration efforts and health of restored areas. CFC maintains and monitors five Eastern Bluebird trails with 63 nestboxes, four Purple Martin colonies, and conducts regular counts of the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, Green Snake, and butterfly populations. CFC also conducts regular Community Science bird counts on their properties, including the annual Christmas Bird Count, Spring Bird Count, and regular ongoing bird counts.
- CFC joined the Windy City Bird Lab project in fall 2024, and an acoustic monitor was set up at Flint Creek Savanna to track the movements of migratory birds through the Barrington area. Additionally, a long-term study at Craftsbury Preserve is looking at changes in native shrubland bird species of concern as the property undergoes restoration.
Interns checking on a Purple Martin colony on a CFC property. Photo by Citizens for Conservation.
CFC’s Legacy
Citizens for Conservation has a rich history in the Barrington area and has benefited greatly from the generosity of the community, whether through donations of time and energy, money, or property. The organization has always managed its preserves knowing that providing wildlife, including birds, the necessary habitat ensures the success of the species. Grigsby Prairie is the oldest CFC-restored property and the generous donor, Peggy Richards, who shared the vision of native prairies, told CFC she donated the property with the understanding that it would always be kept open because she so enjoyed the singing of the prairie birds. To date, Grigsby Prairie has been host to 104 species of birds, with bird counts and Eastern Bluebird monitoring dating back to the beginning years.
CFC has always kept bird lists for its preserves and with the development of tools like eBird and NestWatch, monitoring has become faster and available up-to-the-minute with results going to Cornell, Audubon, the Purple Martin Conservation Association, Lake County Forest Preserve District, and the North American Bluebird Society. Citizens for Conservation looks forward to engaging with the Bird Conservation Network as yet another new way to join a collective effort ensuring the vital future for our many native species.