GreenTown Conference returns to Aurora promoting healthier, sustainable communities in the Fox River Valley

After seven years the annual GreenTown Conference returned to Aurora yesterday under the theme of "building healthy, sustainable communities." The Roundtable Discussion panelists included Peter Skosey of Metropolitan Planning, Susan Malec-Mckenna of the Chicago Wilderness, Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, Pete Wallers of Engineering Enterprises and Bob Dean of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. The panelists discussed the transformative changes in attitude towards the Fox River Valley and the growing collective recognition of its value.  Two suggested approaches to promoting sustainable infrastructure included pursuing "value capture" strategies and new mechanisms for infrastructure funding.

GreenTown Core Planning Committee proposes Fox Valley Sustainability Network

As the conference was concluding, Gary Cuneen, Executive Director of Seven Generations Ahead, introduced the concept of a Fox Valley Sustainability Network (FVSN). The network would function to better coordinate projects and share knowledge to drive sustainability planning and implementation across the Fox Valley region.

The Kane County Forest Preserve is looking to lease a portion of the land from the Brunner Family Forest Preserve to an area food farmer. The property, located just off Route 31 between West Dundee and Algonquin, has previously functioned as a working corn and soybean farm. The prospective lease holder is the owner and operator of a farm west of Barrington and is looking to transfer some food production and agricultural activities to the Brunner Forest Preserve property. Some of the food production activities to take place at the

 Brunner site could include raising beef cattle, fruit and vegetables production, dairy, poultry and egg production.

Increasing access to locally produced and healthy foods has been a priority

 for the county, a vision set forth in

 both the Kane County 2040 Plan and the Growing for Kane Health Impact Assessment. The Growing for Kane study, completed in 2013, included the results of interviews with farmers and other agriculture industry professionals. The cost of land and other resource inputs were identified as significant barriers to increasing local food production within the County. Surveyed farmers also recognized the leasing of public land as a preferred strategy for encouraging local production. Last year the Kane County Development Department and the Forest Preserve partnered with CMAP and Openlands to develop an evaluation toolkit for identifying public lands that could be leased for food farming operations - Growing Food in Kane County: A Guide to Evaluating Public Land for Local Food Production. The guide provides a set of criteria by which local policy makers might evaluate various public lands for their food farming potential.

The Kane County Forest Preserve manages roughly 5,000 acres of current or recently active farmland. If approved, the lease of the Brunner farm property could serve as a pilot program for other public lands with a history of agriculture to be utilized for food production within the county.