Dr. Alice Kibbe had a dream of starting a field station at the site to promote teaching and research in field biology and ecology. Her ideals of promoting teaching, research and conservation are the cornerstones on which the Alice L. Kibbe Life Science Station has been built.

     Dr. Kibbe was a well-known botanist. She was Department Chair and Professor of Botany in the Biology Department at Carthage College from 1920 to 1956. Carthage College was located in Carthage Illinois, which is 18.5 miles east of the Station on US Highway 136. In 1964, Dr. Kibbe donated 160 acres of land in Hancock County to Western Illinois University. Over the years, the natural area has grown to 1680 acres due to a series of land purchases by the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy for the development of Cedar Glen Natural Area.

     The field station management area includes 415 acres owned by Western Illinois University, 587 acres by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and 697 acres by the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. The site is managed through a cooperative agreement between the three landowners. Kibbe Station manages onsite operations through the Station manager that lives at the field station and serves as caretaker, and a station director, who is a faculty member in the Department of Biological sciences at Western Illinois University.

     The Department of Biological Science at Western Illinois University began conducting summer classes in 1966, and has held summer sessions at the site ever since. This nature preserve, which is home to a diversity of plant and animal species, provides students with hands-on experience in field research, as well as offering the general public an opportunity to commune with nature.