BACT Welcomes Chad Pregracke, Renowned River Cleanup Crusader February 22, 7:00pm, The Garlands
As the founder of America's only "industrial strength" river clean-up organization, Living Lands & Waters, Chad Pregracke tells a compelling and funny story about growing up on the Mississippi River and his efforts to clean up that river, one pile of garbage at at a time. Chad's best-selling book, From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers (National Geographic Books), chronicles his incredible journey to clean up America's rivers. The books shares Chad's personal story and the beginning of his grass-roots organization, which has captured America's imagination and motivated thousands of people across the country to clean up our country's rivers and waterways. Pre-registration is required for this event (please call 847-381-4291). A suggested donation of $5 is appreciated. This program is generously funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Sir Peter Crane Discusses the Impact of Global Climate on Water Resources
March 8, 7:00pm, Makray Golf Club
Sir Peter Crane's work focuses on the diversity of plant life -- its origin, fossil history, current status, conservation and use. He served at the Field Museum in Chicago from 1982 to 1999, when he was appointed director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He returned to Chicago in 2006 as the John and Marion Sullivan University Professor at the University of Chicago, before being appointed at Yale in 2009. Peter Crane was elected to the Royal Society/the UK Academy of Sciences in 1998 and was knighted in the UK for services to horticulture and conservation in 2004. He is a Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Associates of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and a Member of the German Academy Leopoldina. He currently serves on the Board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, WWF-US, and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. Pre-registration is required (please call 847-381-4291); suggested donation of $5 is appreciated.This program is generously funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Calling All Visionaries
Every community needs visionaries — visionaries who see beyond today to protect the future. The Barrington community has had a long history of residents who have worked hard to protect the area from uncontrolled development.
Barrington is to Chicago what Jackson Hole is to the West and Martha's Vineyard is to the East Coast. To date, land conservancies in Jackson Hole have protected over 20,500 acres with permanent conservation easements. More than 3,200 acres of Martha's Vineyard have been protected, and over 16,000 acres of the Chesapeake Bay region are under conservation easement. By contrast, the vitally important Barrington area has permanently protected less than 1,000 acres of private land. Zoning laws are not enough; we need permanent protection in the form of conservation easements.
As pressures from surrounding communities push into the Barrington area, we need community visionaries more than ever. This year we call all the visionaries of our Barrington communities to come forward to take action with BACTrust to protect the community for this generation and those to follow.
READ MORE: Go to the Executive Director's Letter
Residents Protect More Land
We are very pleased to report that two members of BACTrust’s Board of Trustees have recently completed conservation easement documents for their properties.
Current BACTrust board president Mary Bradford-White and her husband, Lynn White, have placed a 5.4-acre easement on their Oakdene Road East property to protect the unique marsh and wetland that runs adjacent to Flint Creek as well as to limit the uses of other portions of the property.
Trustee Betsy Bramsen and her husband, Jim, have also placed a Scenic Road Easement on approximately 30 feet of setback into their property as a part of our Heritage Corridor Program in order to protect Ridge Road. The Bramsen easement will make it much more difficult for Ridge Road to become a major traffic artery in the future, provided that other neighbors step forward to continue the protection that the Bramsens have begun.
“This strategy works and is very effective for permanently protecting land here,” said Mary Bradford-White. “Our residents need to act – and act quickly – and we are proud to do our part.”
