The Lake County Stormwater Management Commission held its 10th annual awards ceremony Dec. 2 to honor groups and individuals whose work has contributed to reducing flood damage, improving water quality and preserving the environment.
The Community of the Year award went to the Loch Lomond Property Owners Association, which installed multiple rain garden projects, planted along the shoreline for stabilization and held community education events.
The Steward of the Year award was given to Don Wilson for his work at Illinois Beach State Park and Almond Marsh. Wilson lead efforts to build heron rookeries, restore white fringe prairie orchid populations and control non-native species at the park through controlled burns.
The park also celebrated a quarter century of seed saving, volunteer training and conversation work.
The Education, Outreach and Media award went to the Barrington Area Conservation Trust for its Conservation @ Home Program, which helps landowners find ways to improve water quality and preserve wildlife. Recent highlighted projects included rain gardens and a naturalization process for the Onion Pub's pond.
The Skokie River Daylighting Project took home honors for BMP Project of the Year. The project replaced undersized culverts and underground pipes at the ComEd and Proctor and Gamble properties in the East Skokie Drainage District. The culverts and pipes, which were prone to low flows, had flooded an electrical substation, among other problems. The old infrastructure was replaced with open drainage channels lined with native plants in addition to reinforced culverts.
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