Garfield Farm Museum Awards Preservationists April 21
On Friday, April 21, Garfield Farm Museum will
recognize local individuals and groups for their preservation and
conservation activities at the 18th Annual Awards Dinner at Dunham
Woods Riding Club in Wayne, IL.
This year a special guest, David Heinze,
DVM, of Batavia , IL will be honored for his fast action reporting to
authorities last August's lightning strike of the museum's oldest
building, the 1842 hay and grain barn. Response by museum staff and the
St.Charles, Elburn, Geneva, and Batavia fire departments minimized the
potential loss of this most historic structure.
The museum will recognize the Aurora
Historical Society for its 100 years of working to preserve the history
of Aurora, IL with a Historic Preservation Award. The group preserves
all forms of history including documents dating back to the 1830s,
photography since 1850, as well as 3 dimensional artifacts including
the historic Tanner House.
There must be something in the water because
three award winners have been LaFox area neighbors for over a dozen
years. Edward Richardson, the James Polivka family, and the Dave
Compton family have taken steps preserving land. For the Polivka
family, mother Nancy set the tone with her efforts to preserve the
historic Durant House and Beith House of St.Charles, IL. From the
beginning days of Restorations of Kane County now known as Preservation
Partners, Nancy was a faithful and dedicated volunteer providing
critical leadership. This ethic has passed on to her children, Rebecca,
Bryan, Brad, and Dwight, who comprising the Polivka Family Partnership,
chose to sell their family's LaFox Farm to the Kane County Forest
Preserve. Because of these actions, Nancy is being recognized with a
Historic Preservation Award and the family partnership will receive a
Cooperator for Conservation Award. Their neighbor David Compton was
likewise concerned for preserving his farmland and for years had sought
a method to do so. The Cooperator for Conservation Award is appropriate
for Compton as he was willing to sell to the forest preserve as well.
The Richardson Wildlife Foundation that
consists of over 1800 acres in Lee County came about because of the
vision of Edward Richardson. The foundation is committed to habitat
restoration and development, conservation education and research. The
Garfield Farm Museum Award for Environmental Preservation will be given
to the foundation.
Documenting history, the land, and rural
life is critical as rural areas are either being absorbed by suburbia
or traditional agriculture is succumbing to agribusiness. One of the
newest ways to document is through the internet and personal 'diaries'
known as blogs. Not a farmer's wife but in need of a name to best
describe her theme, Suzanne Kathro of Lily Lake, IL has spent over a
year daily updating her www.Farmerwife.blogspot.com with a new photo
and description of the world around her. As commenters on her website
have said they never thought a simple rural road could be a destination
or how exotic these rural scenes appear to an international audience,
her blog opens other's eyes to looking at their own backyards. Her
efforts will be given an Agricultural Preservation award as a year of
this blog will be an important documentation of change for future
generations to study.
Garfield Farm Museum's neighbors to the east
have done a great service to the farm's rural setting in this rapidly
developing area by selling a conservation easement to Campton
Township's Open Space Program. The Richard DeBeir and Jack Anderson
families did not individually own enough land to qualify for Illinois
Township Open Space enabling legislation. By 'combining' their adjacent
parcels, the 50 acre minimum was met and they sold a conservation
easement to the township, which will keep their lands as open space in
perpetuity. This provides a great visual buffer for Garfield Farm as
these properties over look the farm from the east. It also retains the
possibility that the DeBeir land will continue to be used as a horse
farm for generations to come. These properties also buffer St.Charles
Township's Campton Hills Park and preserve the rural look of Campton
Hills Road. DeBeir and Anderson will receive a Cooperator for Campton's
Conservation award.
The awards were established to recognize
organizations and individuals whose activities paralleled the three
themes of Garfield Farm Museum, history, farming and the environment.
The Cooperator awards are being given as recipients are a vital
component of conserving and preserving rapidly growing communities. For
years, the land preservation community has known that saving natural
areas, farmland, and cultural landscapes can only be done with the
cooperation of the landowner. All the money, all the best intentions,
all the community support can mean nothing, if a land owner is not
interested in selling their property for the public benefit. Cases
where owners could have received more money by selling for preservation
but still chose to sell for development are not uncommon. Selling
property is full of emotional issues, misconceptions of the economics
of real estate, mistrust of the market, lack of understanding the value
of time, money and opportunity, and often involves a number of parties
related by blood or marriage or by business partnerships.
Garfield Farm Museum is a historically intact
former 1840s Illinois prairie farmstead and teamster inn that
volunteers and donors are restoring as an 1840s working farm museum. To
attend the awards dinner, advanced payment of $40 is required. For
information call 630 584-8485 or email info@garfieldfarm.org.
For more information about Garfield Farm send an e-mail message to:
info@garfieldfarm.org or
call 630/584-8485.
