Middlefork Savanna

The Lake County Forest Preserve District was negotiating to buy an addition to the Middlefork Savanna, the district's highest quality preserve. Upon learning of an opportunity to bid on the property's back taxes, the district asked Openlands Land Preservation to bid on its behalf.

Within 24 hours, Openlands bought the back taxes for $55,000. We later issued the district a wetlands grant of $200,000, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District, toward the purchase of the property. The fifty-five-acre parcel is now part of the environmentally valuable Middlefork Savanna.