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 The program provides for enhancing game and non-game wildlife
habitat through projects developed by not-for-profit
organizations and governmental entities. Funding for the
Illinois Habitat Fund Special Wildlife Funds Grant Program comes
from the sale of Habitat Stamps to sportsmen.
The Illinois Habitat Fund Advisory Committee this fall approved
$2,160,000 in funding for the 17 projects, which are outlined
below.
National Wild Turkey Federation – A project to do habitat
restoration work at Kincaid Lake, Little Cache River and Oakwood
Bottoms in the Shawnee National Forest in partnership with U.S.
Forest Service. $50,000 in state Habitat funds were awarded,
with the grantee providing $99,913 in matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – A project that funds a
Wildlife Biologist position to provide consulting with local
landowners in these counties: Jackson, Perry, Washington,
Randolph, and Franklin with a focus on the Burning Star Quail
Focus Area. $190,813 of state Habitat funds were awarded, with
the grantee providing $20,000 in matching funds.
Quail and Upland Game Alliance – A partnership project
with the USDA to fund a one-time incentive payment to local
landowners for their voluntary enrollment in the federal State
Acres for Wildlife (SAFE) program as part of the USDA
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in these counties: Mercer,
Henry, Bureau ,Stark, Marshall, Knox, Warren, Henderson,
McDonough, Fulton, Peoria, Sangamon, Coles, Cumberland, Jasper,
Richland, Clay, Effingham, Fayette, Marion, Bond, Clinton,
Washington, and Perry. $99,000 of state Habitat funds were
awarded, with the grantee providing $30,000 in matching funds.
Pleasure Drive Peoria Park District - The Peoria Park
District (PPD) along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (PFW), the Illinois River
Valley Pheasants Forever (PF) chapter, and Illinois Farm Bureau
are working to restore and enhance prairies and woodlands in
Peoria County to improve habitat diversity for the federally
endangered rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis, RPBB). In
addition to the RPBB, this project will benefit the monarch
butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and other native pollinator
species, grassland songbirds, forest dwelling bird species, and
overall ecosystem health. This partnership was awarded
$60,945.10 in state Habitat funds to restore 43 acres of high
diversity native prairie and enhance an additional 17.2 acres of
existing prairie and woodland in Peoria County, with $63,8230 in
grantee matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – A project designed for
providing habitat restoration assistance for local landowners in
partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) affecting potentially 2,000 acres statewide. $105,000 of
state Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing
$40,000 in matching funds.
Quail and Upland Game Alliance – A project to fund a
Habitat Specialist over several years to advise and consult with
private landowners on habitat-friendly practices in a game bird
habitat region of southern Illinois south of I-70. $60,500 of
state Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing
$210,000 in matching funds.
Winnebago Forest Preserve – The Winnebago County Forest
Preserve District (WCFPD) along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (PFW), local
Pheasants Forever (PF) and Trout Unlimited (TU) chapters, and
Illinois Farm Bureau are working to restore and enhance prairies
and woodlands in Winnebago County to improve habitat diversity
for the federally endangered rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus
affinis, RPBB). In addition to the RPBB, these projects will
benefit the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and other
native pollinator species, grassland songbirds, forest dwelling
bird species, and overall ecosystem health. This is a project to
restore 84.5 acres of high diversity native prairie and enhance
an additional 299.5 acres of existing prairie and woodland in
Winnebago County. Winnebago County has one of the highest
concentrations of known RPBB populations in Illinois outside the
Chicagoland collar counties. Grant project locations of these
habitat restoration activities are at Cedar Cliff Forest
Preserve, Severson Dells Forest Preserve, Stone Bridge Forest
Preserve, Four Lakes Forest Preserve, and Kieselburg Forest
Preserve. $90,860 of state Habitat funds were awarded, with the
grantee providing $114,521.53 in matching funds.
Quail and Upland Game Alliance – A project to fund Bonus
Incentive Payments to local landowners for completing
wildlife-friendly work on CPR and Non-CRP acreage in 20 Illinois
counties that are game bird range areas. $121,220 of state
Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing $40,800
in matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – A project designed for
funding Farm Bill biologist positions providing consultative
habitat restoration assistance for local landowners in
partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) affecting potentially 20,000 acres in these counties:
Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, Henderson, Warren, Knox, McLean,
Livingston, DeWitt, Peoria, Woodford, Tazewell, Ford, Iroquois,
Champaign, Vermillion, Douglas, Moultrie, Shelby, Coles,
Cumberland, Effingham, Jasper, Clay, Marion, Jefferson,
Richland, Wayne, Hamilton, Lawrence, Edwards, Wabash and White.
$180,000 of state Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee
providing $540,000 in matching funds.
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Quail and Upland Game Alliance – A project to fund
habitat restoration work to set back woody succession adjacent
to grasslands in the Grand Prairie and Southern Till plains of
Illinois on both public and private lands. $28,908 of state
Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing $9,720 in
matching funds.
Winnebago Forest Preserve – A project to create Ferguson
Prairie Pothole, a 1.3-acre seasonal pond attractive to
waterfowl near the parking trailhead at the Calvin and Sophia
Ferguson Forest Preserve, a 529-acre property with 1.9 miles of
Sugar River shoreline at the confluence with the Pecatonica
River. A wetland reserve easement for 457 acres of the site is
held by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS).
According to local bird enthusiasts, the site is a major
migratory bird stopover. The project goals are to create the
wetland habitat close to parking for public enjoyment and
exposure, especially for those with limited mobility, and to
raise awareness and education of wetlands. $10,880 of state
Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing $11,585
in matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – A project of buying habitat
restoration equipment for volunteer chapters with habitat
restoration workers in Winnebago, Stephenson, Brown, Piatt,
Ford, McDonough, Kane, Coles, Cumberland, and Macon counties.
$98,839 of state Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee
providing $47,110 in matching funds.
Forest Preserve District of Will County (FPDWC) Braidwood
Sands Area – This project will fund non-native invasive
species control on 1,063 acres of the Braidwood Sands Area. The
project reduces sassafras and oak tree and grub density in the
savanna and removal of unwanted native trees from mesic prairie
areas, removing excessive native shrubs from wet prairie/sedge
meadow and marsh, and converts agricultural fields to prairie.
The project proposes to over-seed prairie re-creations with
local seed and perform butterfly surveys on Braidwood Dunes and
Savanna Nature Preserve, Sand Ridge Savanna Nature Preserve,
Kankakee Sands Forest Preserve and Wilmington Shrub Prairie
State Nature Preserve. $112,200 of state Habitat funds were
awarded, with the grantee providing $244,850 in matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – A project of habitat
restoration of seasonal wetlands in Northeast Illinois to
improve wildlife habitat diversity, water quality and flood
protection in 20 wetland basins and 100 acres in these counties:
Ford, Iroquois, Champaign, Livingston, Kankakee, and Will.
$195,305.25 of state Habitat funds were awarded, with the
grantee providing $120,824 in matching funds.
Quail and Upland Game Alliance – A project to buy a
prescribed burn wildland fire water pump for assisting crews
with prescribed burn areas in Logan County. $5,924 of state
Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing $1,609 in
matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – A partnership project with
the IDNR for funding a five-person mobile Habitat Strike Team
work crew for habitat restoration projects in west central
Illinois. $695,942.59 of state Habitat funds were awarded, with
the grantee providing $649,000 in matching funds.
Pheasants and Quail Forever – a partnership project with
the IDNR for funding the equipment and hauling trailer for a
five-person mobile Habitat Strike Team work crew for habitat
restoration projects in west central Illinois. $46,799.59 of
state Habitat funds were awarded, with the grantee providing
$5,000 in matching funds.
The grants through the Illinois Habitat Fund Special Wildlife
Funds Grant Program are competitive and are evaluated for their
merit. Eligible recipients are limited to any appropriate
not-for-profit organization or government agency that has the
expertise, equipment and permission from the landowner (if
applicable) to develop and/or manage wildlife habitat.
“Appropriate Not-For-Profit Organization” means a not-for-profit
corporation that is organized pursuant to the General Not For
Profit Corporation Act of 1986 [805 ILCS 105], is in good
standing as a not-for-profit corporation and is authorized to
conduct affairs in Illinois with one of its purposes as stated
in its Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws being the support,
development, conservation or management of habitat for future
generations, or wildlife rehabilitation.
Applications for the next round of grants through the Illinois
Habitat Fund Special Wildlife Funds Grant Program will be
accepted beginning on January 1, 2019.
Check the IDNR webpage at
https:// www.dnr.illinois.gov/grants/ Pages/
Special-Wildlife-Funds-Grant-Program.aspx for more
information.
[Illinois Department of Natural
Resources] |
