Up to 80 projects slated to restore and enhance habitat for at-risk species along Lower Sangamon River and Alton bluffs

[OCT. 10, 2006]  SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced that the state will provide nearly $491,000 in matching funds to support a $946,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect threatened and endangered species. The grants, funded through the Landowner Incentive Program, will help private landowners enhance, protect or restore habitat for at-risk species along the Lower Sangamon River Watershed and Alton bluffs area.

"This program is an example of landowners and state government working cooperatively together to conserve native habitat," Blagojevich said. "The areas that have been chosen for the pilot program are some of the most unique, diverse habitats in the state, so this investment will not just benefit today's generation, but many generations to come."

"Private citizen landowners are key to the state's resource conservation and enhancement efforts," said Sam Flood, acting director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. "The LIP program gives landowners an incentive to work cooperatively with the state and help us meet objectives that have been identified as being critical to the state's habitat conservation efforts."

The Landowner Incentive Program was first offered to states on a national level in 2002 to establish or supplement existing programs. These programs provide technical or financial assistance to private landowners for the protection and management of habitat for at-risk species. There are two levels of funding. Up to $180,000 in Tier 1 funding is available annually to states for administrative costs associated with program development and implementation. Tier 2 funds are available for project implementation, monitoring and assessment. Unlike Tier 1 funds, caps for Tier 2 funds are determined from year to year.

Illinois was first awarded $180,000 in a Tier 1 Grant to develop a Landowner Incentive Program in November 2004. The state decided to focus on three counties -- Cass, Menard and Sangamon -- to develop a small pilot. In September 2005, the state received $705,000 to develop a program in the Lower Sangamon River Watershed, which resulted in 15 projects that are currently under way. The area was selected because it has some of the state's most unique habitat remnants, with more than 48 state-listed and four federally listed threatened and endangered animal species. The area also has more than 28 state-listed and one federally listed threatened and endangered plant species.

This year's grants will support key projects critical to the state's habitat enhancement efforts, including funding for 250 landowners to restore, enhance and manage their properties for habitat for species at risk; increase the quality of habitat for up to 48 species at risk in key conservation opportunity areas; restore or enhance 200 acres of woodland areas; and conduct research to help reduce soil erosion and identify land and water resources that could benefit at-risk species.

"This program is a great opportunity for landowners to get involved with the state's conservation management efforts," said Mike Conlin, director of the Office of Resource Conservation for the Department of Natural Resources. "These grants have saved hundreds of acres of key habitat from destruction and have benefited species ranging from mud turtles, red-headed woodpeckers, slender glass lizards, to wood ducks and barn owls."

"We've made every effort to ensure effective implementation of LIP, based on goals identified in the Wildlife Action Plan as being most critical to reversing the decline of native species in Illinois," said Debbie Bruce, program support administrator for the Department of Natural Resources. "This work couldn't be done without partners, including the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture, along with local soil and water conservation districts and conservation organizations assisting in this effort."

The federally funded Landowner Incentive Program is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and implemented on the state level by the Department of Natural Resources. Since the inception of the program, Illinois has received nearly $2 million in funding to develop and implement Landowner Incentive Program projects. This year, nearly $20 million in funding was awarded to 42 states across the United States.

[Illinois Department of Natural Resources news release]