Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership

Our Mission is to educate citizens while building partnerships for projects to improve water quality, maintain water supply, preserve ecosystems and restore wetlands, prairies and other natural features for current and future generations

Upcoming Meetings and Events

WED., March 25, 10 AM FC/SCWP Mtg. Location TBA

Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership is hosting Michelle Pope, Lake County Stormwater Management Commission GIS and drone expert, and with responsibility now for the Fox River area.

Michelle will walk us through some of the terrific mapping resources we can use online from Lake County, as well as some of the capabilities of the Lake County drone software, and ways it can translate its video records into other data forms.

The meeting is free and open to the Public, and all are invited. 

Wild Ones: Save the Date - 4/4/2020

Start in Your Yard, featuring Doug Tallamy.  Observing the current flooding, fires and desertification, the public is starting to ask questions about how to maintain the health of our earth. The program will attract many who already study and steward our natural abundance.  Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, changed forever the ways we think about our gardens.  Time TBA.

BACT Program on the Important Role Native Plants Can Play in Home Landscapes, 7 PM to 9 PM, Feb. 20

Meeting at the Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Hwy, Barrington.
The speaker will be Environmental Restoration Specialist David Eubanks, who has experience in ecological restoration with Openlands, Forest Preserves of Cook County, the City of Chicago, and Lincoln Park Conservancy.  Take advantage of this opportunity to learn from Dave and his years of experience in restoring the natural areas throughout Chicagoland. The event will be held at the Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest HWY, Barrington.  The program is free.
SAVE the DATES:

March 12-14:
Illinois Lakes Management Association Conference in Champaign, IL.

March 26: Fox River Summit in Burlington, WI

Mark Your Calendars for the CFC Winter Education Series: Feb. 22, March 14, April 18

All meetings are at the Barrington Village Hall, from 10:00 – 11:30.  To RSVP, call 847-382-7283.  Members free; others $10

Feb. 22: Using native sedges to restore wetlands. Speaker: Kevin Scheiwiller, Restoration Manager, Citizens for Conservation. Kevin will discuss how to use warrior sedges to combat wetland invasives and rebuild a functioning sedge meadow. He will also talk about sedges in residential gardens.

March 14: Vanishing Edens: Biodiversity in a Changing World. Michael Jeffords, Coauthor of Exploring Nature in Illinois:  A Field Guide to the Prairie State, is the speaker.  Mr. Jeffords will discuss how current pressures are affecting the biodiversity of plants, pollinators and other wildlife that are interdependent and on which we depend.

April: Living with Beavers

BGI Events: Events are 9:30 to 12 AM MON., Jan. 20: BGI volunteers will be cutting & burning buckthorn at the Spring Creek area.

Meet at the CFC Farmhouse at 9:00am to carpool (459 IL Rt 22, Barrington) or at the Penny Rd. Pond Parking lot in South Barrington. (Penny Rd. between Healy Rd. and Old Sutton Rd.)  All ages and levels of experience are welcomed.  DRESS WARMLY!

For more information, call CFC at 847-382-7283

Citizens for Conservation sponsors workdays on almost every Thurs. and Sat. throughout the year.

Winter is an ideal time to take down buckthorn and other invasives.  Meet for workdays at Citizens for Conservation’s office, 459 w. Hwy 22 in Lake Barrington. Experienced and new volunteers are always welcome!

For more information, call CFC at 847-382-7283.

Other Organizations: Ancient Oaks, Lake Zurich; Barrington Green Drinks; Go Green Barrington; Fox River Ecosystem Partnership; Friends of the Fox River

Barrington Green Drinks is hosting a meeting on Jan. 29 at McGonigals.  Mindful Waste teaches us about composting and resucing waste at home and away.   Meet at 7 PM. All are welcomed. 

Feb. 19, Go Green at South Barrington. Mary Beth Schaye, Zero Waste Consultant for Collective Resource. Meet at 7 PM at the Arboretum, Suite L-1, between Georgio’s and Cooper’s Hawk

Ancient Oaks Foundation

Go Green Barrington

Green Drinks Barrington

Fox River Ecosystem Partnership (FREP)

Friends of the Fox River

Picture shows 5 interns walking in the river, assessing water quality

Know Your Watersheds

Go places only the locals know. Join the Barrington Greenway Initiative with the Citizens for Conservation! Join RiverWatch with Barrington Area Conservation Trust! Become a Volunteer Lake Monitor!

Explore and Restore

Go Birding with Citizens for Conservation and Audubon through some of the lovely prairies of the Watersheds. Pictured are two Bobolinks in the Spring Creek Forest Preserve.

Native plants in restored detention basin

Tax Dollars at Work

From shoreline restoration to flood mitigation to stream channel maintenance to wetland restoration to detention basin retrofits, governmental agencies are important partners in protecting water quality and watersheds.

GREAT NEWS!

A $5,000 grant from the Barrington Area Community Foundation will allow three Barrington-area conservation organizations to collaborate on water-conservation activities and efforts, such as streamside planting at Flint Creek.

Conservation organizations awarded BACF grant to develop educational resources for water protection

BARRINGTON, IL – April 22, 2019 – Three Barrington area conservation organizations will collaborate to help Barrington-area residents protect local water sources, thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Barrington Area Community Foundation.
   Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership (FC/SCWP), Barrington Area Conservation Trust (BACT) and Citizens for Conservation (CFC) will work together to create restoration demonstration areas, educational activities, native planting instructions, sample planting designs, online resources, and how-to libraries.
     Each organization will draw on its area of expertise for the initiative.  FC/SCWP will coordinate and lead efforts; BACT will develop the demonstration area along Flint Creek in Pederson Preserve in Barrington; and CFC will develop the schematic planting design, determine best native plants, and create homeowner designs.
     “The plan is to demonstrate attractive native plant arrangements – including sedges – for stream banks and lake shores, as folks don’t realize how much sediment, pesticides and herbicides wash off their lawns,” said Faye Sinnott, FC/SCWP’s coordinator. “Sedges can offer effective filtration and can be a subtle, strategic addition to lawns.”
     The three organizations will work together to assess their educational materials to determine what each group already has; they will then evaluate areas for improvement and create additional aids that will best help area residents with water-protection efforts.  Materials, including instructions, plant examples, graphic design documents, and supportive information, will become available on each organization’s websites.
     “We are extremely thankful to be working with CFC and FC/SCWP, who are sharing their expertise and assistance with this important project and which will benefit the entire community,” said BACT President Bryan Croll.
     “CFC is excited to be collaborating with FC/SCWP and BACT on this initiative, which is so important to Barrington’s water-quality conservation efforts,” added Kathleen Leitner, CFC president. “This is a unique step forward in helping our community advance its legacy of conservation engagement for the future decades.”

Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership Members

New Logo for Barrington Area Development Council

Associate Members of the Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership