333.91 C765X 2007 ^^^v:^ •>.::■■ 'V /■■' C.T' . ' ■ ^ ." '/■ •' ■" • ■ •.- ■V f ^ \ ■' I ; r « ■ fc^" .•^■'■'^i UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN The person charging this material is responsible for its renewal or return to the library on or before the due date. The minimum fee for a lost item is $125.00, $300.00 for bound journals. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. Please note: self-stick notes may result in torn pages and lift some inks. Renew via the Telephone Center at 217-333-8400, 846-262-1510 (toll-free) orcirclib@uiuc.edu. Renew online by choosing the My Account option at: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/catalog/ UNIVERSITY OF ILLfNOIS LIBRARY iT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN lATURAL HIST. SURVEY ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY Gift from INHS B 2007 C2000 12-Year Report 1996-2007 Table of Contents I j&j'i. A- -Lc , ,. ,-r/ Introduction: Page 3 C2000 Ecosystems Program, Mission and Purpose Page 4 C2000 Ecosystems Program, Description Page 5 Grantee Spotlight, Natural Land Institute Page 6 Grantee Spotlight, Illinois Audubon Society. Page 7 Project Spotlight, Big Creek Page 7 C2000 Ecosystem Partnerships Map Page 8 Ecosystem Partnership Spotlight, Fox River Ecosystem Partnership Page 9 C2000 Ecosystems Program Project Grants Map Page 10 Recipients of C2000 Grants Page 11 Program Accomplishments and Publications Page 12 Grantee Spotlight, The Nature Conservancy and SWIRCD, Inc Page 13 C2000 Ecosystems Program, Local Legacy and CTAP Components Page 14 Conclusion Page 15 C2000 Ecosystem Partnership Contacts Map Page 16 On the cover: Main picture - Lyman Woods, Dupage Co., Dupage River Coalition Ecosystem Partnerhsip Top Inset - Upper Des Plaines Ecosystem Partnership Annual Meeting, touring Bill Kurtis' prairie, Mcttawa, Lake County Middle Inset - prairie flowers Bottom Inset - 2nd longest boardwalk in Illinois (950 ft). Heron County Park, Vermillion Ecosystem Partnership Black-eyed Susans Page 2 http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/ Introduction Conservation 2000 -Twelve Year Report- it's hard to believe it has been twelve years since the Conservation 2000 (C2000) Program was first developed. And, what an outstanding list of accomplishments we have made over the past several years. What was to be a six-year program was extended an addi- tional eight years to continue the C2000 program until 2009. Because of its unique approach to protecting and restoring Illinois natural resources on non-state owned lands, HB1780 was passed earlier this year without a dissenting vote to continue the program until the year 202 1 under the new name. Partners for Conservation. Gov- ernor Blagojevich signed the bill on August 14, 2007. The success of IDNR's C2000 program can be directly attributed to the many partners who participate in the public involvement pro- cesses to preserve the natural resources of Illi- nois through ecosystem-based management. Our partners, both private and public, work very hard to develop and implement protection and en- hancement strategics that match each ecosystem's needs. The C2000 Ecosystems Program is focused on non-state owned land, which encompasses about 95% of the state. Protection of a landscape this large requires broad involvement from private landowners, community interests groups and the State, work- ing in a collaborative role, to promote conserva- tion efforts. To date, 41 Ecosystem Partnerships cover 86% of the state and represent 98% of the state's population. These coalitions of local stakehold- ers are united by a common interest in protecting the natural resources of their watershed. The program is unique in that anyone can volunteer to be a member of an Ecosystem Partnership. By being a designated Partnership, C2000 provides financial and technical support to assist in addressing local watershed concerns. The largest component of the C2000 program is the Ecosystem Project Grants. These grants are awarded annually in the following categories: Habitat, Land Acquisition, Research, Outreach, Planning, and Resource Economics. Since its inception twelve years ago, C2000 has awarded $35,784,713 in grants and recipients leveraged an additional $33,969,272 in matched fiands for a total of $69,753,985 in ecosystem- based management projects throughout the state. I am very excited about continuing the Ecosystems Program through Partners for Con- servation. We will continue to focus ecosystem restoration on non-state owned lands and strengthen our partnerships with not-for-profit organizations, individuals, and businesses, as well as state, federal and local units of govern- ment and others. We will work harder to lever- age matching federal dollars to get the most out of the state dollars for our environment. We have much to be proud of and we look forward to tremendous opportunities to benefit our state's natural resources in the future. - Tammy Watson, C2000 Ecosystems Program Manager http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/ Page 3 Ecosystems Program Mission To monitor, maintain, enhance and restore the biodiversity and ecological conditions of Illinois' landscapes through local partnerships. Purpose The purpose of the Ecosystems Program is to integrate the interests and participation of local communities and private, public and corporate landowners to enhance and protect watersheds through ecosystem-based manage- ment. The Ecosystems Program is fiinded through Conservation 2000 (C2000), a com- prehensive long-term approach to protecting and managing Illinois' natural resources through partnerships with grass-roots stake- holders. The Ecosystems Program is a volun- tary, broad-based incentive program. "From restoring prairie grasses and stabilizing streambanks to developing educational programs that benefit thousands of students, the projects supported by these grants will have long term benefits for the wildlife, plants and watershed resources in all parts of Illinois. The C2000 grant program helps local citizens and organizations improve environmental quality and the quality of life in their communities." - Governor Rod R. Blagojevich Page 4 http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/ Ecosystems Program C2000 Ecosystems Program The State of Illinois faces many challenges in its effort to manage its natural resources. Illinois can support everything from forest, to prairie, to cypress swamp, yet, most of Illinois is highly modified from its natural state. Estimates are that less than 0.1% of the State's land supports high quality natural habitats. Human development has resulted in habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, urban and rural pollution, and other threats that continue to stress our environment. The focus of traditional natural resource management has been on habitat protection and enhance- ment on state-owned land and managed areas, which only account for less than 5% of the state. In order to develop a long term approach to enhancing and protecting the greater portion of Illinois, the Ecosystems Program had to look at making changes on the local level. The Ecosystems Program is a voluntary, broad- based incentive program. A major component of the Ecosystems Program is competitive grants that have been awarded annually in the following categories: • Habitat • Land Acquisition or Conservation Easement • Outreach and Education • Planning • Research • Resource Economics Most landowners want what is best for their land. In order to tackle our State's conservation challenges, we must partner with and assist non-state landowners at a grass roots level to preserve and restore our natural resources. The intent of the C2000 Ecosystems Program is to integrate the interests and participation of local communities and private, public and corporate landowners along with local, state, and federal governments. As these groups merge, Ecosystem Partnerships are designated. The partnerships' members play a vital role in developing plans and projects on a watershed scale with an ecosystem-based approach. The C2000 Program provides technical and financial support to the designated partnerships. /■ In 2004, the C2000 Program was nationally recognized. The National Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils (NARC&DC) awarded the C2000 Ecosystems Program as the National Sup- poiling Organization of the Year. The award was presented to Tom Flattery, Director of the Office of Realty and Environmental Planning, at the 5"' annual NARC&DC Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. http://dnr.$tate.il.us/orep/c2000/ Page 5 Grantee Spotlight Natural Land Institute ^ Having a reliable source of grant funds from the C2000 Program has helped the Natural Land Institute (NLI) accomplish many of our conservation goals while working with private landowners to protect and restore natural habitat for wildlife. One of the first grants received helped leverage the acquisition of 688-acres of flood prone land on the Pecatonica and Rock Rivers, near Rockton. The land was restored to prairie, wetland and forest with the help of additional C2000 fiinds. Every dollar of State funds was matched with $5 of federal and private grants, and more than 20,000 hours of volunteer labor. The Nygren Wetland Preserve has become a showcase of habitat restoration and cooperation with other agencies and groups, including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, NRCS, IDNR, the Conservation Fund and Rockton Town- ship. Other C2000 grants enabled NLI to protect forested bluffs next to Hanover Bluff Nature Preserve in Jo Daviess Co., restore critical habitat for neo-tropical migratory birds, preserve rare plants and animals surviving from the last ice age along Waukarusa Creek in Carroll Co., and to work with private landowners along the Kishwaukee River in DeKalb Co. to create a greenway of protected forest. The Kishwaukee provides some of the best fishing in northern Illinois. Money for research and strategic conservation planning is hard to come by, but C2000 grants to NLI allowed both the Sugar-Pecatonica Rivers and Kishwaukee River ecosystem partnerships to develop strategic plans for wildlife conservation along three of the most important rivers for fish, wildlife and recreation in northern Illinois. The Kishwaukee River plan has leveraged Illinois EPA fijnds to create three model water- shed plans for the region, and is guiding development throughout the area. "As a private conservation group we have come to rely on the C2000 Program to help us fulfill our mission of protecting and restoring natural land for people, plants and animals," said Jerry Paulson, executive director of the Natural Land Institute. "It is one of the few grant programs available to private groups like ours for wildlife conservation in Illinois." The Natural Land Institute is a private, non-profit land conservation group, based in Rockford that has worked with landowners to protect and restore natural lands for people, plants and animals in northern Illinois for almost fifty years. - Jerry Paulson, Executive Director, The Natural Land Institute Page 6 http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/ Grantee Spotlight Illinois Audubon Society From natural resource restoration and preservation to conservation education, the Illinois Audubon Society has consistently relied upon Conservation 2000 to achieve its mission. As a land trust, Conservation 2000 has supported Illinois Audubon to acquire land and enhance habitat vital for species protection. Since its inception, Conservation 2000 has served as a public/private natural re- sources partnership model for the nation. With a great percentage of Illinois' natural land- scape already lost to development, Conservation 2000's existence has protected thousands of Illinois acres, now and for generations to come. Illinois Audubon applauds the numerous natural resource-based accomplishments brought about by C2000. As Illinois' oldest conservation organization, Illinois Audubon has never before experienced a natural resources partnership program as important and vital as Conservation 2000. - Tom C Jay , Executive D icectDr, niinods Audubon Society Project Spotlight Big Creek The Big Creek Project under the IDNR C2000 grant program has been a huge suc- cess for the Union County Soil and Water Conservation District. Our goals in the beginning w^ere to address the Big Creek Watershed plan. With the C2000 grant we were able to meet four objectives of the plan. It has helped our organization by not only addressing the prob- lems of Big Creek (one watershed in our County), but helping us to set up a procedure that will benefit every watershed in the County. Because of this grant we have rewritten our long range plan for the County to include the concepts of the Big Creek Pilot C2000 grant. The grant has also allowed us to bring in new partners to our work. This has proven to be a very beneficial result of the grant. We did not realize the expertise available that we were not utilizing. It has allowed the District to bring in additional funding that we would have otherwise not received. We have shown a $2.12 return on the grant money that we have received. The District feels the greatest accomplishment resulting from the grant is our main goal of annual soil savings. We have shown greater soil savings during the years of the C2000 grant that at any other time in our history. To us, soil savings is a measure of improving water quality in Union County, which is our main goal. -Keitii Li/esay,Re30uraeConservatbnist,Unx3n County SW CD http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/ Page 7 Conservation 2000 Ecosystem Partnerships With DNR Administrative Regions C2000 Ecosystem Partnerships 1. American Bottom 2. Big Rivers 3. Cache River 4. Carlyle Lal<: m /."..A.-^-.s^-v J > -'^ -''^ll '{#, -3, V' •"■''^. :1 '^i,;;^