Community Based Natural Stewards

Building on the momentum of the community effort to save the Harley Clarke Mansion and its grounds,  Jens Jensen Gardens in Evanston (JJGE) was founded in 2019. Since then, we have worked to advocate for, preserve, and restore this naturally and culturally significant landscape.

 

As a community-supported non-profit, we leverage donations and volunteered expertise and labor to...

• Uncover and protect stone features such as the Caldwell Pool and the Council Ring

• Remove invasive species and replace them with native plants

• Restore native species to the adjoining Werling Dune

• Provisionally define and re-plant significant areas of the Gardens

• Clean up, refurbish and use the Coach House and Greenhouse

• Advocate for formal preservation recognition, and

• Do what’s needed year-round to preserve this community treasure

 

Our Long-Term Vision: The Lighthouse Center for Native Habitat

As we proceed, we intend for the Jens Jensen Landscape and the Coach House and attached greenhouse at Lighthouse Park to evolve into the Lighthouse Center for Native Habitat—dedicated to the propagation of natural landscapes and the natural knowledge required to maintain them. Volunteers trained in the Center’s Stewardship Development Program will help churches, schools, and other private institutions throughout Evanston to establish ecological landscapes on their properties with ongoing support from the Stewardship Development Program. The Center will leverage the resources of organizations and institutions to create and fund ecological landscapes on their grounds by helping some of their members become stewards, and by serving as a repository for shared tools, materials, and technical support as needed.  
Read more about this vision here.

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