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It has been decades since Richard Colant laced up the gloves to go a few rounds in the ring. His thick hands worn from both time and work, the 73-year-old former boxer is ready for at least one more round, as the Cook County Forest Preserve District tries to seize his Lemont home. Colant is fighting a forest preserve condemnation order, which has the backing of environmentalists, with a jury trial set for July. At issue is a small canyon cutting through his backyard -- yes, there's a canyon in Cook County, but just one. It grows into a larger canyon that's called a "one-of-a-kind resource [with] rare dolomite limestone cliffs, bluffs and small caves." Colant was once willing to sell most of the seven acres he and his wife, Patricia, own, but wanted to continue living in the house where they raised five children, while running a small landscaping business. But the district wants to kick out the Colants, then demolish their home, in the name of preserving and protecting the environment surrounding the canyon in their backyard. And even if they could be persuaded to leave their modest ranch and its substantial acreage, the Colants said a district offer of $517,000 was too low, especially since a nearby 10-acre farm is selling for $1.3 million. Colant is proud of the house he built with his own two hands, long before contractors began putting up $1 million homes next door, not far from the Cog Hill Country Club. Now, the Colants say, they just want to be left alone. "We just can't believe it," Patricia Colant said. "They asked us how much we want. We don't want anything. This is our home. We want to be left alone." The Colants don't mind when forest preserve naturalists give weekly canyon hikes for nature-lovers through their backyard. "We believe in preserving the canyon, too," said Patricia Colant, a member of the pro-environment Sierra Club. "We believe in environmental issues. They can take all of the property around the creek and fence it off if they want. But they want our home, too. They're going too far with it." But a $500,000 state and private grant being used to acquire land near the canyon requires the Colant home be demolished. Forest Preserve District spokesman Steve Mayberry said there are concerns about the environmental impact of the landscaping equipment the Colants park near the canyon, in addition to worries about the impact of yard waste and fertilizer they've dumped down the side of the canyon for years. "Obviously, whenever we seek land, we also seek to preserve open spaces around it," Mayberry said. Friends of the Parks President Erma Tranter called the Colant land "a really important piece of landscape to acquire" because "it certainly is described as something that doesn't exist in any other part of this county." The Colants and a neighbor were approached about a sale in 1999 and in 2002. The neighbor sold two acres and a newer home for $422,500 -- with the home now occupied by forest preserve Police Chief Richard Waszak, as part of a district housing program now under fire. The program allows select employees to live in houses that sit on land the district acquires, paying modest rent. The Colants and other neighbors wonder whether that's the forest preserve's hidden agenda here -- despite the demolition clause in the grant. The district also offered to sign a life estate with the Colants, meaning once they died, the district would take ownership, but they wouldn't agree to that, either. That's when the district put a lien on their home and began condemnation proceedings. The district, which is facing a serious cash crunch, will shoulder land expenses beyond the $500,000 grant, along with legal fees. The main canyon, with spectacular 25-foot high walls, is north of 111th Street in the preserve's Camp Sagawau. The Colants' home is south of 111th Street, where the canyon shrinks to 10 to 12 feet, with shallow water, behind their home. But because of endangered ecology in it, Mayberry said the district is committed to condemnation. "This will go to a jury trial and the jury will get an opportunity to see the land," Mayberry said. "We've been very careful not to get in a position to get their land and not adhere to their rights."