Forest Preserve District commissioners have agreed to buy about 191 acres in southwestern Will County for nearly $3.7 million.
Executive Director Michael Pasteris said the district is adding 168 acres to a Wilton Township preserve established last year. The remainder, approximately 11 miles to the southwest, would become an operations and police substation.
Last week, district commissioners agreed to pay $17,500 per acre for 168 acres owned by the Nugent family and $33,000 per acre for 22.9 acres southeast of Wilmington owned by the Paul Melhorn Revocable Trust.
The district is adding the family acreage to its Huyck’s Grove Preserve, established with an initial purchase of 300 acres. Of the 168 acres near the Will-Kankakee County line, Manhattan resident John Nugent owns 125 and Manhattan residents Donald and Susan Nugent own 43. The 168 acres is costing the district $2.9 million.
The district also intends to use the property, which includes 15 acres of floodplain, two acres of wetlands and 45 acres of hydric soils, to bolster the south branch of Forked Creek and restore natural habitat.
To the west along Illinois Highway 102, the Melhorn property also contains an unspecified amount of floodplain associated with Forked Creek’s west branch.
Pasteris said the property is worth $754,000 because of a 3,500-square-foot pole building, a small log-cabin style building and other structures.
By acquiring well-located land with existing buildings “in really good shape,” the district saves the additional $300,000 it would cost to acquire land and erect new structures closer to the Forked Creek Preserve’s Forsythe Woods, he said.