DeKalb County Farmland Foundation Records

The DeKalb County Farmland Foundation (DCFF) was formed in 1998 by thirteen DeKalb County residents after a DeKalb County governmental and interested groups conference called “Vision 2000" inspired them to counter encroaching urbanization in their county.  The increasing housing and corporation developments in towns all over the DeKalb region threatened to replace the farmland and alter the rural atmosphere that members of the DCFF wished to maintain.  These thirteen DeKalb residents sought to initiate a grassroots campaign of “voluntary conservation easement” for DeKalb County farmers, looking for ways to restrict farmland use for solely agricultural or open space purposes. The majority of the DeKalb County Farmland Foundation’s time and efforts in its first few years were geared towards gaining the tax-exempt status of a not-for-profit organization under the Internal Revenue Code of Section 501 C (3).  The DCFF also formed collaboration efforts with the DeKalb County Planning/Zoning/Building Department during the update of the County Comprehensive Plan in 1998, attending and participating in the public hearings.  The DCFF also became closely aligned with the efforts of the nationally-based Land Trust Alliance and the Fox Watershed Land Alliance.  The DCFF even modeled their by-laws, applications, appeals, and arguments with the Internal Revenue Service after that of the Land Trust Alliance.  The farmland organization also took part in discussions between local farmers and the Land Trust Alliance to have farmland restricted from urban development, participating in the first conservation easement effort in the DeKalb area. The organization reached out to the public utilizing brochures, newsletters, fundraisers, a website, and community events.  The organization still maintains nonprofit, tax-exempt status and is still an active advocate of conservation easement in DeKalb County, Illinois.

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