The Kane County Forest Preserve District is continuing to move forward with its plans to create a nature center focused on educational programming at Arlene Shoemaker Forest Preserve in Aurora.
In November, a contract was approved by the Forest Preserve Commission for design services, and the Forest Preserve District is currently in the process of applying for a state grant to cover some of the costs of the project.
The idea for an “urban ecology field station” in Aurora was one of the projects set to benefit from a proposed tax hike the Kane County Forest Preserve District put to voters in 2024, which was ultimately approved. The property tax increase has been estimated as amounting to around $10 per $100,000 of home value, and was projected to bring in around $6.9 million to the district in the first year.
An expansion to a program reintroducing bison to the Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve, for example, has also been touted by the district as an initiative that would be supported by the referendum dollars, along with things like land acquisition and forest preserve maintenance.
Now, a little over a year after the tax referendum question’s passage, the Aurora nature center project is beginning to progress.
But it’s been a long time coming, said Jennifer Rooks-Lopez, the Kane County Forest Preserve District’s director of Planning and Land Protection, at the November Forest Preserve Commission meeting. The site was initially selected in 2003 for a nature center.
Currently, the county’s only nature center is at the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles, Rooks-Lopez said at the meeting.
The idea is for the proposed nature center in Aurora to expand the district’s educational offerings, particularly in response to patron data suggesting that school groups, community groups and the general public in urban centers in the county — especially Aurora — need a nature center with educational programming and outdoor infrastructure that is “relevant to their unique urban ecology,” according to a memo from Rooks-Lopez.
Arlene Shoemaker Forest Preserve, at 1400 Felten Road, is connected to surrounding neighborhoods and to walking trails to a nearby elementary school, Rooks-Lopez’s memo notes, and the Illinois Prairie Path’s Aurora branch runs up along the preserve’s northern boundary.
Putting an urban nature center in this location is intended to help the district better reach underserved communities, at-risk youth and low-income families in the area with educational programs, the memo says.
To pay for it, the Forest Preserve District is planning to apply for a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
At the Forest Preserve Commission’s November meeting, Commission President and Kane County Board member Bill Lenert said that, if the district is selected, the state grant could provide 75% of the costs to build the nature center, or up to $2.8 million in funding.
To apply, the district needs a site plan, as well as preliminary facility design and costs for the project, according to Rooks-Lopez’s memo.
So, the district sought firms to help with design, permitting and grant preparation for the project, landing on Darien-based Wight & Company.
According to a memo from Wight & Company included in the November meeting agenda, the site would have both indoor and outdoor facilities. The indoor facility would have things like a multi-purpose classroom and science lab, a demonstration kitchen, interactive stations and exhibits and a wildlife viewing area. The outdoor portion could include, for example, water access, an amphitheater and a fireplace or fire pit.
The contract with Wight & Company — which comes to $50,000 for the design and grant preparation services, along with a $5,000 contingency — was approved by the Forest Preserve Commission in November. The memo from Wight & Company indicates that it expects to complete these design services by June, based on the grant application schedule.
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