TCAS Contributes to Land Acquisition for New Refuge
Thorn Creek Audubon is pleased to announce we have contributed $500 on behalf of chapter members to the Friends of the Kankakee (FOK). The contribution was matched by an anonymous donor in a challenge drive to meet the FOK portion of a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. The grant will be used to purchase more property for the new Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area - Illinois.
Friends of the Kankakee is a volunteer non-profit dedicated to the development of this new national wildlife refuge. FOK works to protect land in southeast Kankakee and northeast Iroquois counties with a goal of helping create a large greenbelt connecting scattered protected areas.
"Thorn Creek Audubon is delighted to help fund this land acquisition," said TCAS President Diane Hicks. "There is rarely an opportunity in our local area to directly impact the development of a new, protected wildlife refuge."
The aim of creating the National Refuge is to preserve existing remnants of the Kankakee River basin's original wetlands, prairies, and oak savannas and acquire and restore adjacent land for conservation and recreation. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is beginning the Refuge's development in Illinois in Kankakee and Iroquois counties.
The Refuge was formally established in 2016 when the USFWS accepted a 66-acre donation of land near Hopkins Park, Ill. (Iroquois County) from the Friends of the Kankakee. This park is the Kolar Savanna Unit.
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December 3, 2021