A series of artesian wells left over from an old fish farm, now on Forest Preserve District of DuPage County property, provided an exceptional opportunity for restoration/creation of new Hine's emerald dragonfly habitat.

A Safe Harbor Agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County for the benefit of the Hine's emerald dragonfly has been finalized.     The Hine's is a federally endangered species known to occur at locations within the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in DuPage County, Illinois.  The purpose of a Safe Harbor Agreement is to encourage voluntary habitat restoration for a listed species, by relieving a landowner of any additional section 9 liability (the part of the Endangered Species Act that prohibits "take" of a listed species).   In this case, the Illinois Tollway is funding habitat creation and restoration work at Waterfall Glen under its obligations from a previous consultation.   This Safe Harbor Agreement, and the related section 10 permit, allows this work to go forward, and gives the the leadership of the Forest Preserve District the assurance that this effort to create new dragonfly habitat will not impede their future restoration of the remainder of the preserve property.   Overall, this agreement, together with an Inter-governmental Agreement between the Tollway and the Forest Preserve District, provided a win-win situation for all parties, and will benefit this listed species.