Last Thursday Partners for Parks and Wildlife held a press conference in Springfield to release a new report, Illinois State Land Conservation Funding. The report documents how poorly Illinos ranks in terms of open space acquisition when compared to other states, and how underfunded Illinois' efforts have been. Even in the best years when the Open Land Trust was operating we were lagging behind other states, and it's gotten worse since then. The report also identifies some options for new funding sources.

At the press conference PPW called for ensuring that the full amount of money raised through the real estate transfer tax is appropriated and spent (now more than $50 million annually for OSLAD and NAAF), and for new funding of at least $100 million annually. A copy of the press release is attached, and more information about the report (including a downloadable copy) is at www.partnersforparksandwildlife.org.

Governor Blagojevich is presenting his budget proposal to the General Assembly on Wednesday. While we don't know what he'll say about open space funding, we are making plans to aggressively push for funding this session. To help with our action planning for the rest of the session, there will be a PPW membership meeting on Monday, March 12th at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

PLEASE JOIN US!

PPW Membership Meeting
Monday March 12, 2007, 11:00 am
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Visitors Center
30239 South State Route 53, Wilmington Illinois 60481
For directions: http://www.fs.fed.us/mntp/visiting/where.htm
Lunch will be provided!

For more information or to RSVP please contact John Gaudette, 773-252-5955 or jgaudette@ilenviro.org.

Thank you,

Jonathan Goldman

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Jonathan Goldman
Executive Director
Illinois Environmental Council
Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund
1608 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Suite 511
Chicago, IL 60647
Tel: (773) 252-5954
Fax: (773) 252-5953
Cell: (312) 388-7358

In Springfield:
107 West Cook Street, Suite E
Springfield, Illinois 62704
Tel: (217) 544-5954
Fax: (217) 544-5958
PPW press release 3-1-07.doc (Binary attachment)
message-footer.txt (Text attachment)
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