[PCA] IDNR Natural Heritage & Ill. NaturePreservesCommissionThreatened

Wed Feb 25 16:32:48 CST 2004

These are all interesting issues & no doubt are part of the problem, but I hope
that we are spending as much effort in contacting those who will really count on
this issue:  Illinois governor and legislators, and especially anyone we know in
that state who can contact their representatives.

>>> Lezlee Willems <lezlee at macnexus.org> 02/25/04 02:10PM >>>
Have you seen a PBS show called Frontline, the episode was entitled "Tax me
if you can?" All the wealthy people send their money across seas in illegal
tax shelters to lease different things like the sewer system or a public
transportation system but those things stay in the foreign country and the
money comes right back to where it started from. Cat and mouse. We need to
make tax shelters in general illegal to prevent this from happening.

From: "Stein, Kathryn" <SteinK at Macrogenics.com>
Subject: RE: [PCA] IDNR Natural Heritage & Ill. Nature
PreservesCommissionThreatened

That¹s 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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