The federally-mandated State Wildlife Action Plans are the first nationwide attempts to focus on preserving the habitat that all wildlife needs for survival. The plans are a major shift away from preserving single species to a strategy that would preserve the habitat necessary to prevent the loss of entire networks of interconnected wildlife.

Illinois’ Wildlife Action Plan identifies 32 Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs), which are unique in regards to topography and wildlife. In some COAs, intense agriculture production will be the main challenge, while in others it may be the existence of waterways that have been heavily modified in a way that has destroyed natural habitat.

This spring, Prairie Rivers Network began working with David Myers of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Southern Illinois University to pilot the first phase of a portion of the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan. We are focusing our initial efforts on the Vermilion River COA, which includes the North Fork, Salt Fork, and Middle Forks of the Vermilion River and the Little Vermilion River system and their smaller tributaries. In hopes that the Illinois Plan can protect and connect large portions of river and riverside habitat for wildlife movement, PRN plans to be involved in other COAs in a similar manner in the coming year, including those along the Mississippi River.

It is the goal of the Illinois Plan to form local COA Partnerships consisting of property owners and managers who share a conservation philosophy and set of objectives and who recognize that their property exists in an area with significant or potentially significant wildlife habitat resources.

These partnerships provide opportunities for local expertise to guide conservation efforts and allow local conservation organizations to have an impact regionally and at the state level. Because many land managers, watershed groups, and private landowners already have conservation goals in place, the partnerships provide opportunities for the members to share information and develop shared goals for protecting wildlife habitat. Participation in COAs is voluntary. If you are a landowner or manager, or just want to get involved in helping protect wildlife habitat in your area, contact Kim Erndt at kerndt@prairierivers.org for more information.

Prairie Rivers Network believes the partnerships hold great promise because they make management a bottom up, not a top down endeavor: a private landowner’s voice can be heard as clearly as a state land manager’s. We believe that Illinois’ Wildlife Action Plan and the partnerships created within can facilitate shared decision making and creative solutions to coordinate habitat protection on land with many different owners and uses. Ultimately, we hope this process will result in a shared vision to preserve the natural areas we all value.

For more information on the State Wildlife Action Plan visit: www.wildlifeactionplans.org/illinois.html

 

 

 

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