RINGWOOD – After eight years of advocacy and planning, the Friends of Hackmatack gathered Wednesday afternoon at Glacial Park for a milestone: the designation of a national wildlife refuge in northeastern McHenry County and southeastern Wisconsin.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced federal designation of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge, the first and only refuge in northern Illinois. The 11,000-acre refuge straddles McHenry County and Walworth County, Wis.

The final document to establish Hackmatack as the U.S.’s 557th national refuge has been “signed off,” Salazar said, prompting applause at the Lost Valley Visitor Center at Route 31 and Harts Road.