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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:blue'>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.</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> David Lincicome
[mailto:David.Lincicome@state.tn.us] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, February 24, 2004
2:59 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> huffmanv@bellsouth.net;
native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [PCA] IDNR Natural
Heritage & Ill. Nature PreservesCommissionThreatened</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face="MS Sans Serif"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"MS Sans Serif"'>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.</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face="MS Sans Serif"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"MS Sans Serif"'>By Michael Hawthorne and
Trine Tsouderos<br>
Tribune staff reporters<br>
Published February 22, 2004<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
The last remnants of the state's natural heritage also would take a hit in
Blagojevich's latest spending plan, the advocates say.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"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?"<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Those grants will be spent. But the wish lists of park officials across the
state may have to be stashed away for a year.<br>
<br>
"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."<br>
<br>
During his 2002 campaign for governor, Blagojevich lamented that Illinois
ranked 46th among ! the states in the amount of preserved open space.<br>
<br>
"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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
With the state facing another budget deficit next year, some lawmakers say they
may not be able to save the programs this time.<br>
<br>
"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."</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face="MS Sans Serif"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"MS Sans Serif"'>David Lincicome, Rare
Species Protection Program Administrator<br>
Tennessee Dept. of Environment & Conservation<br>
Division of Natural Heritage<br>
401 Church St., 14th Floor L&C Tower<br>
Nashville, TN 37243-0447</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face="MS Sans Serif"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"MS Sans Serif"'>Phone: (615)
532-0439<br>
Fax: (615) 532-0231<br>
E-mail: <a href="mailto:david.lincicome@state.tn.us">david.lincicome@state.tn.us</a><br>
Website: <a href="http://www.state.tn.us/environment/nh">http://www.state.tn.us/environment/nh</a></span></font></p>
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