We are proud to announce that V3 has won a 2025 ACEC IL Engineering Excellence Special Achievement Award for our work on the Gray Willows Wetland Mitigation Bank. While Merit and Honor Awards typically focus on overall excellence in engineering design and execution, the Special Achievement Award highlights projects that demonstrate extraordinary innovation, address unique challenges, or provide significant benefits to the community or environment.
We are thrilled to be recognized for our outstanding ecological restoration efforts on this monumental project; learn more about how we met performance standards two years early and created a beautiful, natural open space to be enjoyed for generations to come.
Project Goals
As part of their Open Space Program and overall conservation mission, Campton Township desired to conduct wetland and woodland ecological restoration on the recently purchased Gray Willows Farm, a 208-acre former estate. The property consisted of two residential structures, a barn, agricultural areas, mowed turf, degraded woodlands, and Ferson Creek running along the property boundary. The Township runs a very active open space program and envisioned the property as a large, ecologically diverse natural area for passive recreation and education utilizing the existing buildings on the property.
In order to design and fund the ecological restoration, the Township decided that a wetland mitigation bank, which had been used at another open space property, could be an effective way to achieve their goals and provide all the required comprehensive ecological restoration design including required civil engineering.
V3 was hired to lead the multiyear ecological restoration project at the Gray Willows Farm. V3’s combination of restoration ecologists, civil and water resource engineers, construction experts, and financial analysts worked together across specialties to devise a multiyear design, agency approval, construction, and ecological management approach to design and create diverse, natural area wetland, woodland and prairie plant communities.
Project Approach and Complexity
This multiyear endeavor was extremely complex. V3’s team was faced with four different environmental challenges—cornfield, turf, woodland, and creek—and essentially started from scratch to build something beautiful.
V3 implemented our Design/Build/Manage approach that allowed for holistic considerations for every step of the project. By having the same team design and implement the project, V3 became the property’s experts, able to make deeply informed adaptive decisions based on expert monitoring and management for the ever-changing natural environment.
Establishing the various areas started over a one-year period and included breaking drain tiles, minor grading, and evaluating the reestablished wetland hydrology. Custom native seed and plant plug mixes were developed for each unique area to match the exact as-built conditions for successful native plant establishment.
In addition to seed, live plant plugs were also used for the various wetland plant communities. For such a large area, this method is not often utilized due to cost and labor intensity, but V3’s ecologists recognized the need for established plants and put in the extra time and effort. This resulted in higher success in meeting performance standards.
Ecologists worked to combat the invasive species along the banks of Ferson Creek. The existing non-native vegetation resulted in erosion issues, which was addressed by the established native vegetation avoiding the need for rip rap or other structural measures.
Client and Community Benefit
From developing a custom native plant mix for each unique plant community based on as-built hydrologic wetland conditions to performing annual maintenance and monitoring such as prescribed burns, weed control, and vegetation sampling, V3’s precise efforts resulted in the establishment of 95 acres of diverse, natural area quality native wetland plant communities, restored woodlands, and prairie buffers.
While the original goal was to meet the US Army Corps of Engineers wetland mitigation performance standards within five years, V3’s Design/Build/Manage approach achieved the standards two years early, exceeding expectations by returning the land to its most natural state possible. Thanks to the exceptional dedication and talent of V3’s scientists, engineers, and construction experts, the property achieved all the necessary performance standards to release and successfully sell the mitigation credits, while providing pristine greenspace to residents at no cost.
Work with V3’s Wetland and Ecology experts
Gray Willows is a shining example of wetland restoration. V3’s Design/Build/Manage approach has raised the bar for successful ecological restoration, showcasing the value of using the same expert team throughout the lifespan of an ecological restoration project.
We are proud to be part of this year’s celebrated engineering firms. To learn more about how we can benefit your next wetland mitigation project, connect with our team.