The year was 1981, and plans to develop Lake Bluff’s Wimbledon Road subdivision included the destruction of a small ancient wetland between the then “Bath and Tennis Club” and the nearby railroad tracks. 

The threat to those wetlands sparked the ire of a number of Lake Bluff residents, including environmentalist Carolyn Goetz. She organized local residents into a successful campaign that eventually saved the beautiful little wetland and white pine plantation from extinction.

The group of environmental crusaders soon became Lake Bluff Open Lands Association, also known as LBOLA, and Carolyn Goetz (mother of local dance legend Sandy Ragsdale) was its founding president. 

That first fledgling preservation effort today is known as the Carolyn Goetz Wetlands Preserve. It expanded into a network of 16 LBOLA-managed natural areas and conservation easements encompassing more than 225 acres throughout the tiny village of Lake Bluff. These open lands, wetlands, forests, ravines, beaches, beach bluffs, prairies, rivers, and savannas otherwise might have been choked out by invasive species that threaten unique native Midwestern areas.

LBOLA volunteers spend countless labor-intensive hours every year removing these invasive threats by cutting, burning, and bringing in new seed to restore and diversify the native community and maintain the balance of nature. They also act as watchdogs to monitor and challenge proposed development, urbanization, and other efforts that might undermine the native habitat.

“We’re especially proud of our work in the Skokie River Prairie, which 15 years ago was a 35-acre buckthorn thicket,” said LBOLA President Larry McCotter. “Our efforts were rewarded last year when the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission dedicated the area as a protected Illinois Land and Water Reserve.”

LBOLA also worked for more than a decade with Lake Forest Open Lands, the city of Lake Forest, and the village of Lake Bluff to block plans to develop a large floodwater storage facility in the Lake County Forest Preserve property that links Lake Forest Open Lands and LBOLA preserves.

LBOLA’s many other activities include extensive interaction with local schools. Bi-weekly workdays at LBOLA preserves for Lake Forest High School students often provide teens with their first taste of physical work while encountering nature up close. 

Lake Bluff Elementary School’s third-graders take educational tours to the nearby Prairie Preserve on Belle Foret Drive.

"Kids light up when they get to romp around in the prairie,” said Janna Nugent, LBOLA’s education coordinator. “And the teachers are so enthusiastic to show the kids a real prairie right here in Lake Bluff."

At Lake Bluff Middle School, sixth- and seventh-graders transplant 1,000 wildflowers and prairie grasses in one of the preserves each year. Eighth-graders have participated in a wetlands study unit in which they measured the water quality going in and out of the Carolyn Goetz Wetlands to understand the biological function of how wetlands clean the water.

The Lake Bluff Middle School Earth Club created a new wetland last year, named Artesian Wetlands, on the wet tract of land between Sheridan Road and the middle school.

Other community activities include LBOLA’s annual bird walks, a spring native tree sale, Earth Day activities, and celebrations of both the winter and summer solstice.

Unlike the neighboring Lake Forest Open Lands Association, LBOLA preserves typically are owned by public entities including the village of Lake Bluff, the Lake Bluff Park District, and permanent conservation easements on private properties. Protected properties range from more than 100 acres along the Skokie River greenway on the west to beachfront prairies on the east with ravine slopes, woodlands, prairies and savannas in between. 

Working within a budget provided by its conservation-minded community of loyal supporters, LBOLA volunteers logged more than 1,100 volunteer hours in 2011 alone.

“LBOLA is an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff, except for college-age land workers it pays during the short growing season,” emphasized LBOLA secretary Liz Leutwiler. “Virtually all of the monies donated by the public to support the group are devoted directly to the mission of protecting and restoring open spaces in Lake Bluff.”

“We welcome donations to further the cause of our organization,” added treasurer Al Trefts. “People can even do their shopping through links on LBOLA’s website donation page, such as Bass Pro Shops, Life is Good, and Golfsmith.

A portion of those sales directly benefits LBOLA. Supporters also can purchase a tree during the Spring Native Tree and Shrub Sale with an order form available on the website. Donations can be made on the LBOLA website or send checks to: LBOLA, P.O. Box 449, Lake Bluff, IL 60044.