Route 66 in the News
Forest Preserved in Illinois
2007-05-06 19:36:50
FUNKS GROVE, Ill. - When early settlers first came to Illinois, the state was covered with acres of untouched grassland and forest.
Today, the Sugar Grove Foundation in Funks Grove, located along old Route 66 about 15 miles south of Bloomington, protects the state's largest remaining intact prairie grove.
With the help of a $2.5 million grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, the Sugar Grove Foundation recently was able to buy 476 acres of old-growth forest, part of a larger 1,100 acres of naturally preserved land.
"This is one of the biggest grants we've ever made," said Elizabeth Cisar, Natural Areas Program Officer of the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. "Our board was very pleased to make this grant to help protect Funks Grove, a unique natural area with land that looks much the way it did when early settlers came to Illinois."
Funks Grove was founded by Isaac Funk, who in 1824 decided to call the area home because of its location near water, the fertile soil and timber. Most of the timber was maple, and Funk and his sons began making maple sugar and maple sirup -- as they always have spelled it. Today's operations are overseen by Mike and Debby Funk.
In the midst of the trees and prairie grasses, the Sugar Grove Foundation operates the Sugar Grove Nature Center, a year-round facility for nature education. The center offers family activities, including hands-on nature exhibits, field trips and classes for children, guided walks through more than five miles of prairie trails, and workshops for adults, as well as a public astronomy observatory and a variety of gardens which produce plants native to Illinois.
Other sites to see at Funks Grove include the Funks Grove Depot, rock and mineral museum, Funk Prairie Home, Chapel in the Trees, Funks Grove Church, Funks Grove Cemetery and the Irish Worker's Memorial.
With the help of the grant, Angela Smith, director of the Sugar Grove Nature Center, said she hopes to continue the 182-year land preservation commitment established by the Funk and Stubblefield families.
"There was no way we could have done it without the grant," Smith said.
The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation invests in clean energy development and land preservation efforts throughout the state.
"What we'll be doing for the next few months is putting together a management plan for that land, after which time, it will be dedicated formally as a land and water preserve through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Nature Preserves Commission," Smith said.
The Funks Grove land already contains four dedicated nature preserves and has been designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior.
~Fitzgerald M. Doubet, Gatehouse News Service
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