Funderburg Farms sells huge property to Winnebago

SUBMITTED PHOTO Tempo
Todd Tucker, Executive Director, Byron Forest Pre-serve District, Dan Kane, Executive Director, Boone County Conservation District, Mike Holan, Executive Director, Forest Preserves of Winnebago County and Tom Hartley, Land Manager, Forest Preserves of Winnebago County.

Forest Preserve District along Ogle County border

By Mark Herman

The Forest Preserves of Winnebago County announced on Sept. 21 the purchase of 868 acres of land from Funderburg Farms Inc. located along the Ogle County border in southern Winnebago County.

This new land has been named the R. Robert Funderburg Forest Preserve in honor of the former longtime president of Funderburg Farms Inc. The land was purchased with the help of a 3 million dollar grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. This is the largest single forest preserve land purchase ever made by the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District which owns 43 other preserves containing over 10,500 acres of protected land throughout Winnebago County.

What makes this land purchase important is that the new preserve is located adjacent to the Severson Dells Forest Preserve (369 acres) to the west and the Natural Land Institute’s Howard Colman Dells Nature Preserve (93 acres) and Byron Forest Preserve District’s Howard Colman Hall Creek Preserve (281 acres) and new R. Robert Funderburg Forest Preserve (40 acres) to the south in Ogle County.

Along the Winnebago/Ogle County border there are now over 1,651 acres of connected natural lands. These protected lands are part of a significant wildlife corridor with miles of trails for public recreation access that will be operated by three different local conservation organizations.

The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation was excited to fund the purchase of the new Winnebago County Forest Preserve land since the adjacent Severson Dells Forest Preserve, Howard Colman Dells Nature Preserve and Howard Colman Hall Creek Preserve are all designated Illinois Nature Preserves by the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission.

This designation protects the high quality natural areas and habitats of endangered and threatened species in these preserves in perpetuity. The new R. Robert Funderburg Forest Preserve site contains oak-hickory woodlands, oak savannas and prairie remnants.

Earlier on July 14, 2020, the Byron Forest Preserve District purchased 40 wooded acres from Funderburg Farms Inc., which was located next to their Howard Colman Hall Creek Preserve.

The parcel has also been named the R. Robert Funderburg Forest Preserve.  The oak-hickory woodlands are already being restored and boundary fences will soon be removed across the entire northern boundary of the Howard Colman Hall Creek Preserve along the Winnebago County border.  There are plans for future trails to be established in order to link the Winnebago County and Byron Forest Preserve District preserves sites.

Both the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County and the Byron Forest Preserve District are grateful to Rob Funderburg and Funderburg Farms Inc. for making these lands sales possible at greatly reduced prices to protect this important large land area for both the wildlife and people of Winnebago and Ogle counties.