A new local land grant entity, if it comes about, could further nature conservation and help prevent sprawl.
Efforts are under way to form a new local land grant agency to help landowners who want to give up development rights on property.
Angella Moorehouse of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission told members of the Henry County Natural Areas Guardians this week that she is working with Eric Anderson of the Natural Land Institute to have all local counties covered by a local land trust.
“I’m going to give as much help as I can on that,” she said.
She said her agency can only accept “high-quality” sites with sensitive or endangered species, standards that land often doesn’t meet.
She said soil and water conservation districts and Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) agencies (under the Department of Agriculture) can do such work, but they usually don’t.
She said she would be proposing that a new group be formed under the Interstate RC&D umbrella in Henry, Mercer and Rock Island counties in Illinois.
Right now, she said the Natural Land Institute can technically accept conservation easements anywhere in the state, but she said people often prefer to work with a local agency.
“It’s always better to have a local entity there and care about it and monitor it locally,” she said.
Moorehouse said conservation easements help preserve prime farm land and prevent sprawl, and many landowners use them for tax reasons.
She noted the Prairie Land Conservancy in the Macomb area was created just two years ago (by the Prairie Hills RC&D) and already, a 200-acre outright donation came as a surprise. Furthermore, the owner wants to open the land to the public as a nature preserve.
“But if it’s your ‘back 40,’ and you want to protect it and no visitation, that’s fine,” she added.
Mark Jackson of Interstate RC&D said he’s had two contacts about land trusts: one inquiry from landowners who have done some development but now want to do sustainable development and put their adjacent property into conservation plans, and another from the Quad City Natural Area Guardians, which acquired 90-plus acre Milan Bottoms, in partnership with the Natural Land Institute.
