Purchase expands Boloria Meadows, a Land Conservancy of McHenry County preserve in Bull Valley

New preserve land belonged to Liebman family

Volunteers with the The Land Conservancy of McHenry County clear brush on New Year's Eve 2024 at Boloria Meadows Nature Preserve in Bull Valley. A recent land purchase expands the preserve, allowing for new access and a future parking lot off of Ridge Road.

Getting into the 40-acre Boloria Meadows Nature Preserve in Bull Valley, owned by The Land Conservancy of McHenry County, can seem odd to those looking to hike its ¾-mile trail.

The entrance to the trail head sits between two houses in the 7200 block of Milburne Court, said Lisa Haderlein, executive director of the conservancy. That leaves those hoping to hike the trail to park on the neighborhood’s streets.

“It is intimidating because it is in a subdivision,” Haderlein said of the preserve’s entrance.

The recent purchase of an additional 19 acres, after selling three of those acres and the house on it, expands Boloria Meadows to Ridge Road with a future parking lot, Haderlein said.

The land, purchased in September, belonged to Charles and Mary Liebman. Charles Liebman, Bull Valley’s first village president, died in January 2024 at the age of 102. Mary Liebman in 2011. McHenry County College’s Liebman Science Center is named after the couple.

“From a historical perspective, this is really the site where the original [Bull Valley] founders were meeting and had the concept of creating the village,” Mark Newton, a Bull Valley trustee and member of the land conservancy board, said of the new purchase.

Charlies Liebman left the home and adjacent property to the Chicago Community Trust, which sold the property to the conservancy. The conservancy used donations to purchase the land and had a mortgage for the property, too, Haderlein said.

The sale of the Liebman house and 3 acres paid off that mortgage, Haderlein said, adding that 3 acres were sold because that is Bull Valley’s minimum lot size.

The new acreage now added to the preserve along Ridge Road “affords the land conservancy to provide western access to the property and upgrading the trail head to be contiguous” to a new parking lot, Newton said. “It is an important historical and ecological expansion of the Boloria preserve.”

The preserve, according to the website conservemc.org, is “named after the genus of silver-bordered Fritillary butterfly. ... It has winding nature trails that lead through high-quality prairie, sedge meadow and oak woodland ecosystems that abound with seasonal wildflower displays.”

“It is an important historical and ecological expansion of the Boloria preserve.”

—  Mark Newton, Bull Valley trustee and The Land Conservancy of McHenry County board member

A creek also winds through the newly acquired property, Haderlein said.

“The plans are to put a parking area off of Ridge and a trail to connect to the rest of the preserve. It will be more accessible and convenient for people,” she said.

Volunteers with the The Land Conservancy of McHenry County clear brush on New Year's Eve 2024 at Boloria Meadows Nature Preserve in Bull Valley. A recent land purchase expands the preserve, allowing for new access and a future parking lot off of Ridge Road.

To get that parking area ready, they are going to need gravel, Haderlein said.

“Clearing the area for parking is easy,” she said. “We have people with chainsaws to cut down trees. But we need gravel and a trail to connect it to the other trails.”

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