[PCA] IDNR Natural Heritage & Ill. Nature PreservesCommissionThreatened

[Stein, Kathryn]

That's why we need to vote out the people making tax cuts for the
wealthy.  This huge deficit has put unprecedented burdens on states and
with additional unfunded mandates in the security areas and elsewhere,
all the states are having to make cuts in areas we least want them,
education and environment.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: David Lincicome [mailto:David.Lincicome at state.tn.us] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 2:59 PM
To: huffmanv at bellsouth.net; native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: RE: [PCA] IDNR Natural Heritage & Ill. Nature
PreservesCommissionThreatened

 

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is a Democrat.  Here's another article below.  Our
land acquisition fund in Tennessee was also attacked lst year and we
lost all of it but 20%.  We are hoping to regain some this year.  Our
current governor is also a Democrat.  Political Party does not matter
during these tough fiscal times.

 

By Michael Hawthorne and Trine Tsouderos
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 22, 2004

Conservationists and outdoors enthusiasts are vowing to fight Gov. Rod
Blagojevich's proposal to eliminate state grants that help buy land for
new playgrounds, soccer fields and ball diamonds.

The last remnants of the state's natural heritage also would take a hit
in Blagojevich's latest spending plan, the advocates say.

To help balance the budget, Blagojevich wants to eliminate money to
preserve endangered patches of prairies, woodlands and wetlands. About
50 field biologists and other state employees who watch over natural
areas would lose their jobs.

In his budget speech last week, Blagojevich said he wants the programs
to take a one-year "holiday," which would save about $30 million. But
conservationists and park district officials say the budget cuts would
be a major setback in the state's efforts to provide open space and
protect natural a! reas.

"This is an incredibly short-sighted decision," said Stephen Packard,
Chicago region director of the Audubon Society. "Who is going to be
there now if somebody drives an off-road vehicle through a nature
preserve or a developer tries to mark plus-300-year-old trees for
cutting?"

Blagojevich said the cuts reflect the state's woeful financial
condition. Faced with a $1.7 billion deficit for the budget year that
begins July 1, he said the decision is an example of his efforts to
change a political culture in Springfield that assumes government
programs are safe from scrutiny.

"This is $30 million we can invest in health care, or $30 million we can
spend on schools," Blagojevich said Friday at a meeting with the Tribune
editorial board. "Just because things have been done a certain way
doesn't necessarily mean that's the right way."

Blagojevich wants to tap funds for state grants that local communities
match with their own money to buy land and! develop parks. More than
$197 million has been doled out in the last two decades through the
program, which since the early 1990s has been financed by a cut of the
state tax on home sales.

Less than a month ago, the governor boasted in a press release that the
latest round of grants would enable park districts to acquire another
1,000 acres. The projects range from $1.1 million for the Chicago Park
District to buy an acre and a half at Sangamon and Adams Streets for a
softball diamond and playground, to $20,100 for a new playground in
Albany, a village along the Mississippi River north of the Quad Cities.

Those grants will be spent. But the wish lists of park officials across
the state may have to be stashed away for a year.

"It's an extreme disappointment," said Ted Flickinger, president and CEO
of the Illinois Association of Park Districts. "We want people to have a
good quality of life, and parks are a big part of that."

During his 2002 campaign for governor, Blagojevich lamented that
Illinois ranked 46th among ! the states in the amount of preserved open
space.

"We need to act aggressively to make sure that future generations of
residents across Illinois will be able to enjoy the beauty of nature and
recreational opportunities without having to drive far away to enjoy
natural resources in our state," he said in a pre-election interview for
the park association's newsletter.

More alarming to conservationists is Blagojevich's proposal to eliminate
funding for the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, a state panel that
in the last 40 years has protected about 85,000 acres in 93 counties.

The commission, a bipartisan advisory group appointed by the governor,
estimates that a quarter of Illinois' endangered animals and plants live
and grow in nature preserves. Many of the tracts are privately owned
areas that have been given state protection from development.

"When a piece of property comes on the market, you have to act soon,"
said Joyce O'Keefe, associate ! director of the Openlands Project, a
nonprofit preservation group.

Among other things, a lack of state funding could delay completion of a
handful of preservation projects in the works at the Cook County Forest
Preserve District, including the Wentworth Prairie in Calumet City and
the Spring Lake Greenway in Barrington Hills. Blagojevich's spending
plan also would cut the jobs of state biologists and support staff who
help protect endangered species and natural areas.

When an invasive plant, insect or animal invades a nature preserve, the
biologists typically are called out to fight them, said Packard, who
once oversaw preserves in northeastern Illinois. Those people likely
will have to find new jobs if the General Assembly endorses the
governor's idea.

"They can't afford to take a holiday, as the governor describes it,"
said Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental
Council. "It could take years to rebuild these programs."

During the early years of the programs, funding battles were routine!
because advocates had to vie with other interests seeking a chunk of the
state's general fund. Securing half of the take from the state's real
estate transfer tax, which charges a dollar for every $1,000 in home
value, made it easier for park districts to plan future projects.

With the state facing another budget deficit next year, some lawmakers
say they may not be able to save the programs this time.

"I anticipate widespread opposition from across the state," said state
Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston). "But local park districts have to
recognize that when the governor says we are nearly broke, he's not
talking about somebody else."

 

David Lincicome, Rare Species Protection Program Administrator
Tennessee Dept. of Environment & Conservation
Division of Natural Heritage
401 Church St., 14th Floor L&C Tower
Nashville, TN 37243-0447

 

Phone:  (615) 532-0439
Fax:  (615) 532-0231
E-mail: david.lincicome at state.tn.us
Website: http://www.state.tn.us/environment/nh

 

 

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