Forest Glen Preserve, Kennekuk County Park See Improvements

Summer may be winding down but there’s still time to enjoy Vermilion County parks.  And at both Kennekuk County Park and Forest Glen Preserve several improvements have been made.  Bill Pickett has more….

Vermilion County Conservation District Executive Director Jamie Pasquale says some of the improvements at Kennekuk have been funded with $200-thousand dollars the Conservation District Foundation received from Dynegy. It was regarding coal ash concerns and the National Scenic Middle Fork River….

{AUDIO: “That was an agreement that the Vermilion County State’s Attorney and the Illinois Attorney General got the funding for us. So, the bulk of that money was used to install solar panels at three of the sites here at Kennekuk — the Administration Building, the Education Center, and the Laury Barn site.”}

Also at Kennekuk, some solar powered charging stations have been installed for electric vehicles….

{AUDIO: “And while we haven’t really had much public use out of them – I don’t anticipate a flood of people using them.  The District does have five electric vehicles now, so we can use those chargers as well.  And they’re powered during the day by the solar, so technically we would be charging our District vehicles for virtually nothing.”}

Work on installing new playground equipment near the White Oak Barn is also being completed at Kennekuk County Park.

Meanwhile, at Forest Glen Preserve two playgrounds have been updated….

{AUDIO: “And we completed the installation of the playgrounds this summer.  We’re still wrapping-up some sidewalk work and some benches for those playgrounds.  One is located near the family campground, and in between the family campground and the tent campground.  And one is by Edgewood Center…which both of those replaced existing playgrounds we had in the park. So those are some nice updates to the park.  People really do like having playgrounds close to campground and rental facilities.}

And fiber optic now connects some key buildings at Kennekuk County Park…

{AUDIO:  “That carries our internal phone lines throughout the park. It’s also tied to our internet, so it provides internet to those buildings from one single location, instead of having to have separate internet at each location.  So that saves a little bit of money, and makes networking a little bit easier for us.  And at Forest Glen, we’ve linked the Gannett Building, the office building, and the maintenance building down there with the same system…our own internal fiber-optic line.”}

The Vermilion County Conservation District Foundation has helped provide funding for some of the projects. Forest Glen and Kennekuk have also seen improvements to roads over the past two years – including in the campground area at Forest Glen.

(A road running through the Forest Glen campgrounds.)

And Pasquale says work is being done behind the scenes to gear up for the next segment of the Kickapoo Rail Trail…

{AUDIO: “Engineering is being completed, getting ready to draw-up documents to go out to bid for construction.  There will probably, hopefully, be some tree removal this winter along the KRT (Kickapoo Rail Trail) section to prepare for construction. And then, if all goes well, construction on the remaining section from Oakwood all the way to the (Vermilion-Champaign) county line should be started in 2025. It may – depending on construction season and rain delays — may go over to 2026, but we’re hoping that in 2025 the bulk of it gets done.}

Pasquale (shown here) notes the Vermilion County Conservation District manages a lot of territory…

{AUDIO:  “I say five county parks, because I include the Kickapoo Rail Trail as a county park now – even though it’s not completed.  So we have Kennekuk County Park, Forest Glen Preserve, Lake Vermilion County Park, Heron County Park, and Kickapoo Rail Trail.  So we’re managing about 6,000 acres of land and water with ten full-time staff, ten part-time staff, and about seven seasonal employees.  So, it’s a lot of work and a lot of stuff’s going on out there.”}

Pasquale invites citizens to get out and enjoy the parks.