"Saving Living Space for Living Things" through protection, restoration and stewardship of land, conservation of natural resources, and education.

We depend on Chicagoland volunteers to work on Barrington-area properties that are owned by CFC or by other local conservation entities, such as the Forest Preserve Districts of Lake or Cook Counties. Volunteers remove weeds, gather seeds of native prairie plants, perform prescribed burns, sow seeds, and clear European buckthorn and other invasive plants, brush or trees. These invasive alien plants choke out the native vegetation, often with a loss of diversity and native animal species. Seasonal monitoring of plant and animal life, nature education for children and adults, a spring plant sale, special events, computer and office work round out our schedule.

We also need members to support us financially. If you are interested, please print our membership form and mail it to us (can be opened with the free PDF viewer). We will thank you for it! CFC also needs paid interns to work (and learn) during the summer months. See About CFC for more information about what we do and why we need you! Feel free to contact us at any time.

Our annual plant sale will be held the first Saturday in May. Pre-orders are needed for trees and bushes. If you didn't receive an order form in the mail, download this one. Reserve your choices with a pre-order. Pre-orders are due by April 14th.

The Bird Conservation Network, in cooperation with the Forest Preserve Districts of Lake County, and the Park District of Highland Park invites you to a workshop for current and prospective bird monitors. Anyone interested is invited to attend this free workshop. Monitors are needed at many sites. The workshop will feature forest preserve and park district staff and experienced birders and monitors. This will be held March 15th at Ryerson Woods in Deerfield, noon to 4:00 pm. A later training is available March 29th at Crabtree Nature Center, noon to 4:00 pm. For more information, visit http://www.BCNBirds.org/ or contact monitoring@CitizensforConservation.org

REI met with CFC volunteers for a special workday in mid-March. About two dozen volunteers cut & dragged brush, opening up some new views and discovering a couple shagbark hickories we didn't know we had before. Here Leslie throws a big log on the burning brush pile.

Our Annual Meeting was Thursday, February 7th from 7-9 pm, at the Barrington Area Library. Approximately 100 people braved the snowy roads to meet friends, see owls shown by the Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation and hear the environmental economist Don Coursey, from the University of Chicago.

Selected pictures and their descriptions that have been used in former "Current News" reports are now being stored on the pictures page, along with any associated movies.

We meet at the office at 459 West Highway 22 (the farmhouse across from Good Shepherd Hospital) and carpool or walk to the work site, which varies from week to week. CAUTION - www.mapquest.com, Google maps, Yahoo, etc. do not recognize this address correctly and do not show it correctly on their online maps! We're on the south side of Highway 22, west of 59, east of Kelsey Road. If you get there late, look at the blackboard on the shed for the location of that day's worksite. Maps are available in the foyer of the farmhouse.

An important activity for restoration of native habitats on our properties is brush removal. European buckthorn and other brush species have, in the absence of natural fire and grazing, crowded much of the land, overshadowing and driving out hundreds of species of native vegetation. Most of the workdays in winter are dedicated to brush removal. This work can be more strenous than our activities in the other seasons, depending on the site and snow depth. Workdays are Saturdays 9-11 am; dress for the weather and bring gloves. Meet at CFC headquarters across from the Good Shepherd Hospital.