Trends Winter 2016 | Page 7

Reclaiming a natural asset: Nature at the Confluence By Kay Kruse-Stanton F acre urban ecological park that members hope will bring residents together, provide opportunities to learn about the area’s natural and human history, and spur further renovation and economic development. In time, the park could encompass about 75 acres. Beloit 2020, a private non-profit organization, is focusing its considerable energy on turning the area into a 34.4- “It’s where a Ho Chunk (Winnebago) village was, and it is where the first European settlers started the community that is today Beloit,” said Jeff Adams, professor emeritus or decades the confluence of Turtle Creek and the Rock River in South Beloit, Illinois, has been an uninviting area of littered grasslands, dense woods, and the detritus of more than 100 years of industrial use. That’s about to change. TRENDS │7