Family Donates 13 Acres Slated for Development to Conservation Foundation

The Conservation Foundation has accepted a 13.4-acre donation of land adjacent to the Fox River Bluff Forest Preserve that will be preserved as open space and managed by the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.

“The Grabacki donation helps extend open space near the Fox River,” Dan Lobbes, director of land preservation for The Conservation Foundation, said. “This property has a nice old oak forest on it that would have been lost if developed.”

The children and heirs of Casimir and Arlene Grabacki — Lisa Schneider, Andy Grabacki, and Gregory Grabacki — decided to donate the land where they grew up rather than see it developed. The property is on the east side of the Fox River west of Weber Drive and had been slated for 13 home sites adjacent to the forest preserve, according to a news release.

Lisa Schneider said her parents moved there in 1972 and family Thanksgiving dinners always came from the land.

“The turkey, pumpkins, peas, carrots, everything was grown in the garden,” Schneider said. “It was very common to butcher the chicken on Saturday and eat it on Sunday.”

She remembers climbing trees, nights in the hayloft, and tractor rides around the property. Her dad used to tell her and her brothers that the trees were so old on the property that they “saw the Indians.”

“We looked for arrowheads, but never found any,” she said. “I would love for kids to get outside here and do it again.”

The Conservation Foundation will hold the land for about two years, allowing the Forest Preserve District of Kane County to use its value, estimated at $470,000, as a match for a future grant. The property will be restored to ecological health and become part of Fox River Bluff preserve, according to a news release.

The Conservation Foundation, celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2017, is one of the region’s oldest and largest not-for-profit land and watershed conservation organizations. Since it was founded in 1972, TCF has helped preserve nearly 33,000 acres of open space, restored and cleaned miles of rivers and streams, and educated thousands of kids by engaging them in nature and the outdoors.

Photo caption: Fox River Bluff East Photo credit: Kane County Forest Preserve District