The Forest Preserve District of Cook County purchasing a 24-acre parcel of land in Barrington Hills that will connect the Spring Lake Preserve with the 400-acre Horizon Farms property.

The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is spending $2.1 million to connect a nature preserve with a farm it purchased last year.

The district is purchasing a 24-acre parcel of land in Barrington Hills that will connect the Spring Lake Preserve with the 400-acre Horizon Farms property. The connecting parcel of land is at 165 Algonquin Road.

Forest Preserve officials said the newly purchased property will provide a greenway connection between Spring Lake and Horizon Farms.

“As outlined in our Land Acquisition Plan, making purchases near existing parcels of Forest Preserve property benefits the plant and wild-life in the surrounding area,” said Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Forest Preserve District. “Natural connections to larger areas act as buffers between developed areas and the habitats we are trying to protect.”

She noted that Forest Preserve land comprises some of the most diverse habitats in Cook County, including forests, wetlands, prairies and savannas.

“Even adding smaller pieces of land to holdings is important to our overall portfolio,” said Arnold Randall, general superintendent of the Forest Preserve District. “We’ve worked to identify properties in close proximity to our current natural areas in order to fill in the gaps in our current holdings.”

Money for the purchase of the Barrington Hills parcel comes from the FPCC real estate acquisition fund, which is appropriated with general operating funds. In 2012, the sale of general obligation bonds provided an additional $27 million earmarked for land acquisition.

Once the Barrington Hills deal and other recent acquisitions are final, the district’s total land holdings will total 69,337 acres. Under Preckwinkle, the FPCC has increased its efforts to buy land. It has acquired 1,060 acres of land since 2011,.

Land acquisition is one of the goals of the Next Century Conservation Plan, commissioned by Preckwinkle, which aims to expand the Forest Preserve footprint to 90,000 acres during the next 25 years.