Illinois Conservation Department Distributes LWCF Grants To Agencies

Checks totaling $1,136,050, mostly federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) monies, were presented recently in Chicago by the Department of Conservation to four northeastern Illinois government units in partial reimbursement for their expenditures on development of public recreation facilities.

Check recipients, and the amount received: DuPage County Forest Preserve District, $556,500; City of Evanston, $345,000; Lake County Forest Preserve District, $137,800; and Round Lake Area Park District, $96,750. The Evanston payment included $145,000 from the state's boat access grant program.

The LWCF funds, administered in Illinois by the Conservation Department for the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior, represented reimbursement for projects approved and started prior to 1982 since the program was not funded by Congress last year, according to Mark Yergler, DOC's grants administrator.

The DuPage County Forest Preserve District project involved acquisition of nine parcels of land totaling 61.6 acres for expansion of Wooddale Grove Forest Preserve to 106 acres. Wooddale Grove, between the village of Wooddale and Addison on Wooddale Road, may be expanded to 150 acres eventually, according to

Dale Wiltberger, (left), president of the Round Lake Park District in Lake County, receives a check for $16,750 from LWCF from David Kenney, Director of the Illinois Department of Conservation, as Robert Rolek, member of the Park Board, looks on.

Illinois Parks and Recreation    41    March/April 1983

Forest Preserve District Director H.C.Johnson.

Evanston completed construction of a large breakwater on Lake Michigan to protect the Church street public boat launching area in Centennial Park. The breakwater also was designed to serve as a fishing pier.

The state's boat access grant program paid 100 percent of costs for the portion of the project involving boat launching facilities, Yergler noted. These grant funds come from the Conservation Department's share of taxes on the sale of marine motor fuel statewide, he explained.

Lake County Forest Preserve District's project, at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve in Winthrop Harbor, included: construction of one boat ramp and renovation of another; expansion of a parking lot; repaying of the main park road; installation of barrier posts along the main road; renovation of the ranger station; construction of a maintenance building; development of a swimming beach on Lake Michigan; general landscaping of the park; and development of a new picnic area, encompassing the installation of drinking water fountains and parking facilities, privy construction, and relocation of a picnic shelter.

Round Lake Area Park District acquired 43.5 acres of land for a new park, on Fairfield Road, about one mile west of Round Lake. Future development of the site calls for equestrian trails and competition area, snowmobile trails, parking facilities and, perhaps, ball fields.

Donald Strenger (left), president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District, accepts a check for $137,800 in LWCF from David Kenney, Illinois Department of Conservation Director.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 43 March/April 1983