Natural Land Institute buys 2 Pecatonica-area properties, preserving an additional 208 acres

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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PECATONICA  — The Natural Land Institute has secured two parcels of land totaling 208 acres to preserve their natural features and wildlife habitat.

The Rockford-based nonprofit preservation group announced the purchases Thursday of the 80-acre former Blackhawk Kennel property and the 128-acre Hazel Doty estate east of Pecatonica. The combined purchase price was about $1.4 million.

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The Blackhawk Kennel property was purchased for $475,000 and sits adjacent to the Pecatonica Ridge Prairie, expanding the total preserved area there to 160 acres. The grassland complex features remnant native prairie, a wet prairie slough and a half-mile stretch of the spring-fed Doty Creek.

The Hazel Doty estate, which is on Telegraph Road about a mile east of Pecatonica, was purchased for $961,000.

It has a mile of the Pecatonica River flowing along its border and features two oxbow wetlands, a mesic forest floodplain, an artesian spring and antique cattle trough, as well as the outlet of Doty Creek.

“The oxbows and river act as a water source for wildlife, as well as habitat. The many wetlands on the property provide critical nurseries for fish, habitat for waterfowl and amphibians (frogs, toads and salamanders), and a breeding ground for dragonflies,” Natural Land Institute said in a news release. “The spring ephemeral flower-filled woodland provides critical food for new queen bumblebees and other pollinators.”

The property has also been visited by sandhill cranes, great blue herons, wood ducks, red-headed woodpeckers, willow flycatchers, tree swallows, sedge wrens and eastern bluebirds. A bald eagle’s nest sits on the largest tree on the property, the Natural Land Institute said.

The latest purchases bring the total number of additional acres added to Natural Land Institute’s portfolio of protected land in 2024 to 752.

The institute has nearly 19,000 total acres of protected land in its nearly seven-decade history.

“Natural Land Institute’s conservation efforts are important – not only to protect our land, air and water, but from a cultural perspective, as well,” the agency said in a news release. “While it is difficult to quantify the value of protecting our prairies, grasslands, woodlands and wetlands, the need for clean water and air and for protecting our disappearing, treasured landscapes is imperative.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas