E-M:/ Fw: Save Illinois's vanishing natural areas

["Sandy Nordmark" <earthwoman@core.com>]

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Enviro-Mich message from "Sandy Nordmark" <earthwoman@core.com>
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Re state expenditures for open spaces, anybody out there know how Michigan 
stacks up?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rebecca D. Stanfield, Environment Illinois State Director" 
<RebeccaS@environmentillinois.org>
To: <earthwoman@core.com>
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 2:57 PM
Subject: Save Illinois's vanishing natural areas


> Hi Sandy,
>
> Illinois's natural areas are once again on the chopping block.
>
> Early this summer, with your help, we sent 3000 emails to legislators 
> urging them to support a non-binding resolution for a program to acquire 
> and conserve Illinois's vanishing natural areas. And we won! The Illinois 
> Senate adopted the measure on May 30th, followed unanimously by the House 
> in June.
>
> But now, when the rubber meets the road, legislators aren't following 
> through. Funding for a natural areas program isn't even mentioned in the 
> capital budgets currently under consideration in the legislature.
>
> Meanwhile, Illinois still ranks last in the Midwest and in the bottom 5 
> nationally for acres of recreation and conservation lands per capita, and 
> Illinois has lost 99 percent of its native prairie and 90 percent of its 
> wetlands.
>
> If we don't protect our natural areas, we will lose them forever. Please 
> help us by emailing your legislators and urging them to support Illinois's 
> iSPACE program.
>
> To help, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web 
> browser:
>
> https://www.environmentillinois.org/action/preservation/ispace?id4=ES
>
> BACKGROUND INFORMATION
>
> Open lands are crucial for clean water, species diversity, recreation, 
> hunting, and healthy lifestyles, but Illinois has consistently neglected 
> them. Our state has lost more than 90 percent of its wetlands and 99.99 
> percent of its original prairie. Nearly 450 threatened and endangered 
> species live within state boundaries. With less than four percent of 
> Illinois's land publicly owned for recreation or conservation, we rank in 
> 48th out of 50 states nationally in open space per capita.
>
> Illinois needs to build parks and acquire and maintain ecologically 
> sensitive lands before the cost becomes prohibitive or the opportunities 
> disappear. Real estate prices in Illinois's rural farmland rose 68 percent 
> from 2000 to 2006. Acting now is especially important in the collar 
> counties, which are among the nation's fastest growing counties.
>
> When it comes to protecting natural areas, why does our state rank among 
> the worst? The answer is that we simply spend far less other states to fix 
> the problem. During our peak year of investment, Illinois spent $2.67 per 
> resident annually on open spaces. In contrast, Ohio spent $4.36, Minnesota 
> spent $5.76 and Wisconsin spent $9.80.
>
> Illinois needs an additional 1.7 million acres of grasslands, wetlands and 
> woodlands along with an additional 83,000 acres of park space to catch up 
> with the rest of the Midwest in the amount of open space per capita.
>
> The Illinois Special Places Acquisition, Conservation, and Enhancement 
> Program (iSPACE) program would be a down payment on these needs. It would 
> allocate roughly $753 million in the next capital budget to allow the 
> state to create new parks and conservation areas, provide matching fund to 
> projects sponsored by local open space agencies, and fund habitat 
> restoration to maximize the value of land already in public ownership.
>
> This session, we helped pass a resolution calling for the next capital 
> budget to include funding for the iSPACE program. The resolution passed 
> both the House and Senate unanimously and served as a powerful statement 
> of the legislature's intent to use a fraction of any capital budget to 
> protect Illinois open spaces for future generations.
>
> Now we need to ensure our legislators follow through on this intent, 
> because if we don't protect our natural areas, we will lose them forever. 
> Please help us by emailing your legislator and urging them to support 
> Illinois's iSPACE program.
>
> To help, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web 
> browser:
>
> https://www.environmentillinois.org/action/preservation/ispace?id4=ES
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Rebecca D. Stanfield
> Environment Illinois State Director
> RebeccaS@environmentillinois.org
> http://www.environmentillinois.org
>
> P.S.  Thanks again for your support.  Please feel free to share this 
> e-mail with your family and friends.
>
> ----------
>
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