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Building Land Conservation Capacity
The Foundation has awarded $388,000 for 13 projects to build the
capacities of local nonprofit groups to acquire and manage natural
areas in their communities. To date, organizations receiving these
grants have been able to protect 1,944 additional acres of natural
area, to secure more than $1.2 million in land acquisition funding,
and $229,000 in land restoration funding. The impressive accomplishments
of these organizations have encouraged the Foundation to continue
to look for new opportunities to help expand the capacity of nonprofit
conservation groups in Illinois.
Forming Partnerships to Support Illinois State Wildlife
Action Plan
State wildlife action plans were first conceived in 2000, when Congress
mandated that each state develop a comprehensive strategy for conserving
its wildlife. In response, the state wildlife agencies were careful
to consider the broad range of wildlife, including game and non-game
species, common species as well as endangered ones. They identified
and prioritized key wildlife habitat, in many cases using the latest
technology to map these lands. They also brought multiple stakeholders
to the table - academics and activists, scientists and sportsmen,
along with other interested members of the local public - to work
together to establish a common conservation agenda that could achieve
broad acceptance within each state. The states submitted their final
plans to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the fall of 2005, and
all were approved by February of 2007.
Impressed by the inclusive, collaborative, proactive and state-based
principles guiding the wildlife action plans, the Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation (DDCF) decided in 2004 to use the plans as the focusing
mechanism for its funding of habitat conservation. And in September
of 2007, DDCF announced its second Land Protection Initiative, a grant
of $10.8 million over three years to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
(INHF), which will work in partnership with The Conservation Fund
(TCF), Ducks Unlimited (DU) and other organizations to accelerate
the implementation of the state wildlife action plans in five states
across the Midwest: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation is supporting the efforts
of Ducks Unlimited and its partners in Illinois to implement DDCF's
Land Protection Initiative by providing matching funds for qualifying
land acquisition projects. The first project is an acquisition of
94 acres of high quality floodplain forest adjacent to the Mark Twain
National Wildlife Refuge in Rock Island County. The property will
protect important habitat and provide opportunities for public hunting,
hiking and wildlife watching.
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