Conservation Foundation creating plans for Harper’s Farm in Ottawa

The Conservation Foundation, the same organization involved with Dayton Bluffs Preserve, is creating a plan for the rehabilitation of Harper’s Farm on Ottawa’s east side as long as it can purchase the land from its current owner.

Conservation Foundation CEO and President Brook McDonald said the plan for Harper’s Farm is to create a large, public open space with prairie and wetland restoration, and trails and public river access, although this hinges on the foundation purchasing the land from its current owner. It also is proposed as development for a possible new home to Ottawa Soccer Club.

McDonald said the hope is the purchase goes through some time this summer or fall so work can begin on restoring the property in 2023.

“If you take Main Street east there’s a plot of land at the end,” McDonald said. “That’s called Mitchell Woods, 25 acres of property that was donated by Daphne Mitchell. We already own that, so we’ve already been working with the city on that.”

Harper’s Farm is a 135-acre plot of land that’s been long abandoned, a former coal, clay and shale mine site from the 1910s through the 1940s.

McDonald said the site was closed before it was required to clean up after a company finished its business there, so Harper’s Farm was left in a state of disrepair.

“Over the last 70 or 80 years, nature just sort of took over,” McDonald said. “There are a lot of wetlands and property there and a lot of new tress have grown, but people also used it as a dump site, unfortunately. People ride their ATVs out there. It’s sort of messed up, but it has a lot of potential.”

That potential, McDonald said, hopefully leads to a beautiful green amenity for the community.

Ottawa Mayor Dan Aussem said this land has gone through a few owners, first a land developer before it went bankrupt and the land went back to the bank. Part of it was then purchased by the Army Corps of Engineers to use when the agency dredged the river.

Aussem said the agreement with the Conservation Foundation on Dayton Bluffs is a long-term lease agreement that sets it as a land that cannot be used for development. A similar agreement would be put in place for Harper’s Farm.

McDonald said a partnership with the city could be beneficial as Ottawa moves to raise nearby Green Street out of the flood plain: Harper’s Farm will be able to provide fill to raise the land.

The Conservation Foundation is a 50-year-old organization that works throughout the Chicago region dealing with land conservation, land preservation and cleaning up rivers.

McDonald said the foundation has been working its way to preserve much of the land along the lower Fox River since the 1990s.

McDonald said the Conservation Foundation also is looking to raise money to purchase the land and get started on the project. Its project at Dayton Bluffs was successful because of the stewardship and volunteerism of the Ottawa community and he hopes this can continue with Harper’s Farm.

Anyone interested in donating can reach him at bmcdonald@theconservationfoundation.org or by calling him at 630-428-4500, ext. 112. Go to https://www.harpers-farm.com/ for more information on the property.