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PROTECTING NATURE'S TREASURES
Rapid changes in land use and expanding urban development prompted the Illinois General Assembly to establish the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission in 1963 to create a system of natural areas representative of Illinois’ landscape. The Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act (525 ILCS 30) governs the Commission and charges it to preserve, protect and defend natural areas and endangered species habitat for public benefit.
This commitment to preserve the state’s rare natural treasures made Illinois the first state to create such an innovative land protection program. The INPC is now a national model, and more than a dozen states have followed its lead. In 1992, the INPC received international acclaim when it was recognized at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as an “efficient and effective model of how to provide long-term protection for high quality natural areas.”
Partner Category: Public Agency
Centennial Activities
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Dedication of 500th Protected Site
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
May 5, 2009 brings the dedication of the 500th site protected by the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission: Deer Grove West Woodland and Wetland Nature Preserve. The Deer Grove Preserve—located in the Morainal Section of the Northeastern Morainal Natural Division in Cook County and within the boundaries of the Salt Creek Watershed—includes 786.9 acres dedicated as nature preserve and 248.8 acres dedicated as nature preserve buffer. [MORE]
Kankakee Sands
The Nature Conservancy
This Burnham Plan Centennial Green Legacy Project has helped enhance local pride in a bi-state region that contains one of the rarest ecosystems on earth—the landscapes at the south end of Lake Michigan where sand and water shifted through the millennia to create rich environments for nature and wildlife. Tens of thousands of acres of sand prairie, savanna and marsh lands originally comprised the Kankakee Sands region, which spans the Indiana–Illinois border and generally follows the Kankakee River.
