Welcome to Fel-Pro RRR
Fel-Pro RRR is a example of protecting natural areas habitat while providing diverse outdoor recreational opportunities. Unlike any other site the Conservation District owns, Fel-Pro RRR in Cary offers visitors activities more commonly associated with park districts. A visitor can enjoy hiking, fishing and picnicking, plus sand volleyball, basketball, and disc golf. The one-mile paved, shaded trail that leads to most of the recreational amenities and is perfect for strollers and wheelchairs.
Visitors will also get lost in the beauty of the site which includes a gravel hill prairie, savanna, sedge meadow, fen, and several spring-fed lakes. A nature trail invites hikers through an oak savanna where columbine and bottlebrush grass have reestablished, over steep glacial hills to a rare dry hill prairie filled with dropseed, little bluestem and birdsfoot violet, then to a high-quality graminoid fen where goldenrod, swamp thistle, angelica, and fringed gentian flourish. Then over the wooden bridge to a large or smaller pond to cast a line for largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, or warmouth.
History
RRR: Rest, Relaxation and Recreation The Fel-Pro Company, an auto parts manufacturer bought the 220 acres of open land in the early 1970s. The company’s vision was to enrich the lives of their 2,800 employees and their families by providing a nature preserve, onsite recreation, and a children’s summer camp. Fel-Pro earned the Forbes Magazine’s honor as the fourth best American employer in 1998.
When Fel-Pro was sold in 1998, the eight family owners decided the camp-tract should remain as a legacy for everyone. They initiated a collaborative venture with The Nature Conservancy, Metropolitan Family Services, and McHenry County Conservation District as the primary landowner.
The Nature Conservancy managed the 130-acre portion up until 2005 which included a gravel hill prairie, savanna, sedge meadow, fen, and several spring-fed lakes. Metropolitan Family Services, and later the YMCA of McHenry County leased and operated a summer camp in the 90-acre recreational area up until 2010.
Cache Your Way Question
Name five benefits of wetlands in McHenry County.
Geocachers
Please join us in playing! Geocaching is a high-tech “treasure hunting” game played throughout the world by adventure seeker. All are welcome who observe and obey the rules.
- Please do not move or vandalize the container.
- Once you find it, log your name in the book, take a trinket and leave one of your own behind for the next person.
- Replace the cache in the same spot that you found it, and make sure it is completely covered.
- Please do not remove the informational card from the containers, this is an essential game piece for cachers completing the GeoSeries.
- The real treasure is finding the container and sharing your thoughts with everyone who finds it.
For a complete list of rules and instructions on how to earn a special district geocoin visit MCCDistrict.org/Geocache
Email geocaching@MCCDistrict.org with any questions or concerns
McHenry County Conservation District Information
Visit our website at MCCDistrict.org or call (815) 338-6223
Photo Release
5/15/23 Photos posted here may be featured on the McHenry County Conservation District's various social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram, and twitter, as well as our website (MCCDistrict.org) and print material such as Landscapes Magazine. By posting photos to this log you agree to allow us to share your work. Photographers will be acknowledged in any shares or posts of photos, so please include your name in your post if it is different from that of your username.