Interviewed: February 13, 2023

Ben Haberthur, Executive Director

Patrick Chess, Director of Natural Resources

Management Policy: The Forest Preserve District of Kane County (FPDKC) does not have an agricultural management policy, even though agriculture is the second largest source of its operating revenue. The FPDKC has audited whether it is in compliance with the expectations that come with its designation as an Illinois Association of Park Districts’ Distinguished Agency and has found there are policies it should have that it does not have. The FPDKC will be creating those policies, including an agricultural policy, in coming years. The policies that govern the FPDKC are set by the Commission that oversees it. The president of the Commission recently presented general concepts and principles (focused on regenerative agriculture) related to how the FPDKC staff would manage its farmland, and the Commission was in agreement with what was presented.  

Funding and Potential Referendum: The FPDKC has the lowest funding rate of all of the forest preserve districts and conservation districts of the collar counties of Chicago. This results in a challengingly low ratio of resource staff to acres of land managed. Levy rates that forest preserve districts and conservation districts could apply were capped by Illinois state legislation in the 1990s at a time when the levy rate for the FPDKC was much lower than the other districts. As a result, the district today has a similar number of acres under management compared to the Forest Preserve District of Will County and the McHenry County Conservation District, and yet it receives far fewer levy funds than those other districts for managing the land it has. A potential solution for this shortfall could be a referendum for county residents to vote on that would increase the levy and do so for operating needs (rather than for land acquisition, which has been the focus of past referendums). This operating revenue would enable the FPDKC to increase its staffing so there would be more staff capacity per acre of land managed. It would also enable the FPDKC to no longer depend as much on its agricultural land leasing program to generate money for operating expenses. Instead, farm leasing revenue could be directed into the capital budget. This would allow the farm leasing program to feel less pressure to generate revenue. The decision to seek public referendum is up to the Board.

“The prospect of getting to move the District in a healthier path for its farmland,” says Patrick Chess, “is exciting. Farmland is a quarter of the land that we own, but until recently it has kind of just been ignored in serving the mission of what the District is supposed to be doing as a conservation organization.”

Staff Capacity: Until recently, the FPDKC did not have a staff person dedicated to managing its farmland. That has changed recently with the hiring of an Agricultural Coordinator. 

Leasing Structure: One of the biggest farmland management challenges comes from the restrictions that were set by the different bond referenda that funded the FPDKC’s acquisition of land. These often capped how much revenue could be generated from the leasing out of land parcels purchased through the bond. Usually, these restrictions would fall away at the conclusion of the bond, which tends to be 20 years. However, because these bonds have been refinanced, the clock is pushed back a few years, extending the time in which these limitations are in effect. 

Issues around compliance are difficult to address because of the lack of capacity to track these things. On some plots of lands, it is possible the FPDKC should no longer be allowing farming on the plots and should instead be retiring them. However, because of staff shortages, a complete and thorough analysis of leases, bonds, and related revenues has not been carried out. 

On the positive side, approximately 30% of the $40 million in bonds issued through the most recent referendum for land acquisition were in the form of taxable bonds, which do not come with those restrictions. With those funds, the FPDKC was able to close on the purchase of a farm. Without any restrictions, the FPDKC will be able to be more creative on the length and terms of the farming license.

The FPDKC anticipates continuing to work to have a clear understanding of what can and cannot be done on each parcel in relation to any bond restrictions. Over time, the expectation is that there will be more freedom for longer term licenses on many of the properties.

In many cases, because the farming licenses for many properties are for less than a year, there is not enough time for some practices to be implemented. Further, because of capacity constraints, monitoring practices on licensed land is limited. 

License prices are based on corn prices, which makes it impractical for farmers to do a small grain (wheat, etc.) rotation which typically provides a great opportunity for cover crops to be planted in the middle of the growing season.

On-Farm Conservation Practices: One of the lessons the FPDKC has learned from the McHenry County Conservation District and the Forest Preserve District of Will County is that because the overall supply of farmland is limited, at least some farmers will be willing to take on conservation practice requirements in order to access farmland. (Requiring 100% full organic certification, however, would likely be a different story.) “I think reducing rent based on implementation,” says Haberthur, “would motivate them to do it, as would having five-year lease terms.”

The FPDKC appreciates the fairness to the farmer of the pricing system for row crop farming of the MCCD (which fluctuates each year depending corn price futures), but when the FPDKC’s operating budget is underwritten in significant part by farm rental revenue, the uncertainty of MCCD’s approach to lease pricing in terms of exact financial income that will be generated each year is not appreciated.

Through informal collaboration with Kane County Soil & Water Conservation District, it has been very easy for FPDKC’s farmer-tenants to get 100 percent reimbursements for their cover crop seed costs. The FPDKC continues to urge its farmer-tenants to take advantage of that offer. 

Edge-of-field management in the form of field borders has been limited largely to situations where neighbors to the fields have been highly concerned about farm chemicals and the Commission has responded by directing that a field border be installed. In general, farmers are not allowed to go border-to-border with their crop production, but checking on compliance has been an issue. In 2023 and beyond, the FPDKC will be more closely monitoring this issue. In one situation, a farmer asked for permission to take down some lower quality trees (box elder and cottonwood) near a watercourse so that beavers would not have materials to set up a dam. When the FPDKC later checked on the site, the farmer had been disking all the way to the edge of the waterway, which had not been the FPDKC’s intention as the FPDKC had wanted there to be a 50-foot hay strip between his fields and the waterway. The FPDKC eventually wants to follow MCCD’s example and have set edge-of-field requirements that are consistent across all fields in the system. This will be easier to accomplish once the FPDKC no longer needs to use nine-month farming licenses rather than multi-year leases. It will also be easier to move forward with broad application of edge-of-field practice implementation when the FPDKC no longer relies on farm rental income for its operating budget for salaries and other direct expenses.

Another leasing issue relates to failed restoration projects on farmland. In these cases, it can make more sense to completely reset the field back to agriculture and eliminate all weeds before trying again down the road. The problem is that when a farm field is restored, the Farm Service Agency (FSA)  usually removes the field’s FSA number. Without a field number, the farmer is ineligible to apply for crop insurance, which makes the farmer unwilling to farm it.

Hay Fields & Grassland Birds: Presently, July 1st is the first-cut date for hay on the FPDKC’s lands. Based on research, the FPDKC realizes July 1st is probably not far enough into the year in terms of preventing mortality for grassland birds that have not fledged from their nests, although there is anecdotal evidence that some fledging birds are surviving. So the FPDKC has considered pushing the first hay-cut day back further. However, research also indicates there is a second breeding period for grassland birds that extends all of the way into August. From this perspective, the most bird-friendly approach would be what the Cook County Forest Preserve District does – only permitting one cutting on or after August 5. Because the cutting is so light and because the hay’s protein content would be nonexistent, the Cook County Forest Preserve District does not charge its hay farmers. This does not seem practical for FPDKC. As a result of these challenges and the FPDKC’s conviction that hay production is inherently problematic for grassland birds, the FPDKC has been working to minimize hay production on its lands. 

At the Burlington Preserve, the FPDKC and the farmer have experimented with cutting 50 percent of the hay pasture very early and then letting that field recover for 60 days while the other 50 percent has a “normal” cutting date around July 1. The hope is that these alternatives will enable different birds to have success. According to research by Jim Herkert (formerly the executive director of Illinois Audubon Society), climate change is impacting the nesting patterns of grassland bird species in different ways for different species. So there is no way to avoid some kind of negative impact for some species no matter what hay cutting date is chosen.

All Grass Farms at Brunner Family Forest Preserve: The innovative and long-term lease arrangement between All Grass Farms and the FPDKC at the Brunner Family Forest Preserve is unlike any other farm lease arrangement the FPDKC has. The fact that the FPDKC was willing to do something so different was partly due to the charisma and vision of the farmer (Cliff McConville) and partly due to the desire of the Commission to preserve the historic and aesthetically striking barns on the site for their historic and community value. The FPDKC saw the All Grass Farms project as a way to preserve the dairy barn at Brunner Family Forest Preserve, to regenerate the land, and to generate funds for the FPDKC as well, thanks to the revenue sharing arrangement put in place around the sales from the farmstand All Grass Farms established. “We make more money per acre through All Grass Farms than we do any other farm,” says Ben Haberthur.

Bison Project: The FPDKC is on track to lease 70 acres at Burlington Forest Preserve  to a bison farmer through an open bid process. Under the arrangement, the FPDKC would own all of the infrastructure at a cost of approximately $150,000 (including fencing, water, and power). The grazing will take place on a prairie that has been restored over the past 12 years, and the facilities near to the grazing area already include a picnic shelter and restrooms. The FPDKC sees both ecological benefits and larger meaning in this project. Ecologically, the FPDKC is convinced that grazing is an essential component of a thriving prairie ecosystem. FPDKC developed this plan with expertise from Mchenry County Conservation District and Ruhter Bison.

“I think the generation of restorationists before us,” says Ben Haberthur, “can really be typified as the one that brought fire back to the landscape. I think we’ll be the ones that bring the megafauna back on, be it cattle or bison. We have had decades of evidence that prairie restoration without grazing on the land leads to gramineous dominance.”

There is also the sense that restoring the bison, one of the ultimate charismatic megafauna of our country, has powerful symbolism, too, just as the FPDKC is about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding. 

“I think this really appeals to people who have heard about how we as a country decimated the native bison herds earlier in our history,” says Ben Haberthur.

Board members across the political spectrum are excited about the project.