Forms / Docs

If you're planning to build around your home (add a fence, put up a new deck, etc), you'll need to request approval from the Architectural Control Committee (ACC). Please print out, fill in, and submit the form (in triplicate) to the association president.

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If you have a question about our neighborhood or need to review what the restrictions are, click the button below for a copy of the subdivision's ByLaws. The ByLaws are in a 3.3mb PDF file.

Minutes

Click on a date below to review the Minutes from that Association meeting.

Newsletters

Click on a date below to view our Subdivision Newsletters.

Prairie Purpose

Forty-nine homes and outlots in the Deerpath Subdivision own, or border, the prairies. There are eight distinct prairie areas. Of these, six are entirely in private ownership. The two largest prairie areas are owned in part by the association as a whole and in part by individual private land owners.

Regardless of ownership, our prairie areas serve many purposes:

Flood Control - During heavy rains, water pours off our roofs, down our gutters, off our driveways and roads and quickly over our neatly manicured lawns. Our soils are rocky, gravelly, well-drained tills left behind by the retreating glacier over 10,000 years ago. Water will seep in quickly if allowed to remain long enough. The physical structure of the plants acts to slow the water, allowing it to soak in. This protects those living downstream from us from flooding.

Ground Water Recharge - As the water is allowed to remain on the land, it seeps down to recharge our surface groundwater. This water, cleansed by the gravel deposits, makes its way into our streams such as Tryon Creek and the Nippersink as well as Wonder Lake itself.

Evapotranspiration - a big word for a simple process. The roots soak up the water and transport it up through the plants where it evaporates out through the leaves thereby releasing it slowly back to the environment.

Habitat - while our houses were being built, prairie birds were nesting in our common prairies as well as on the undeveloped lots. Now that most of our lots are built up, we are lucky to have retained meadowlarks which can be heard in the summer singing from the playground structures of our prairie park as well as from rooftops of the homes bordering the prairie. These, along with killdeer, sedge wrens and savannah sparrows are ground-nesting, open-land birds. Not many developments can boast having them nesting in their parks!

Biodiversity, Beauty & Bucks - the diversity of plant species attracts not only birds but butterflies and other insects. These and the flowers add beauty to our neighborhood and increase our land values. Look around at the neighboring developments - we are lucky!

Our prairie needs work. The first few years after planting a prairie are critical in weed control. This is usually accomplished by mowing and spot herbiciding. As we were getting our feet on the ground as an association, we went through a learning curve and non-native invasive species gained a foothold. In 2006, a professional ecological restoration company was hired. Now we are asking for your input and involvement. Stacy Iwanicki is organizing a group of Friends of Deerpath Prairies (formerly Deerpath Prairie Gardeners). As mentors, the DPGs will help with weed spotting and identification and advise neighbors on how they too can help. Neighbors can mow and dead-head the invasive species, giving the professional managers time to apply the herbicides and organize and conduct the burns. The long-term costs of maintaining the prairie, once established, will be low.

With our participation, we can work to keep our prairie management costs down at the same time develop a greater understanding and appreciation for our common prairie areas.

For more information on invasive plant species, visit invasive.org

If you are interested in volunteering time and energy to our common prairies or even learning more about landscaping with natives in your own back yard, please contact the Friends of Deerpath Prairies Mentors at or Stacy directly at .

Native Plants

...according to Plants of the Chicago Region by Floyd Swing and Gerold Wilhelm

Print and use this list as a guideline to selecting native species for home, prairie, savannah, and woodland planting in Deerpath subdivision.

This list is intended to be used in conjunction with catalogs, plant sales, and other native plant sources to help the gardener determine whether a plant is native to McHenry county. It includes many plants that are adapted to the well-drained, gravelly soils of our Deerpath subdivision with an emphasis on species of prairie, savannah, and woodland edge habitats. For soil type, see below. As a selected list, it is by no means a complete or exhaustive list of native plants that may be appropriate for planting in your yard. Further, the list does not intend to imply that a non-native/non-listed species is inappropriate for planting (although it may be). A separate list of noxious, invasive, and other undesirable weeds is available. If you have any questions whether a non-listed plant is native, or a suggestion of a plant that should be added, please contact Stacy Iwanicki at .

Contact

To contact us, send an email to .