If you haven't already heard about "Conservation 2000," you will.

This six-year, $100 million multi-agency commitment to Illinois' natural resources is being described as the most forward-looking natural resource preservation initiative ever advanced in Illinois.

The program was unveiled in Governor Jim Edgar's budget message in March. It proposes a sweeping, coordinated effort to protect and expand the state's natural resources while also broadening quality outdoor recreation opportunities and encouraging compatible economic development.

Conservation 2000 was born of deliberations by a 25-member Water Resources and Land Use Priorities Task Force created in 1992 by Edgar. The group was asked to address increasing conflicts arising from land and water use and to make recommendations for preserving and improving natural resources without unduly hampering economic growth.

Its goals include undertaking a comprehensive review of Illinois water law, protecting Illinois lake resources, intensified protection of whole ecosystems through the establishment of a series of large ecological reserves or "macrosites," and development of a network of trails and lineal corridors called "greenways" to link those macrosites and expanded efforts to control soil erosion and sedimentation.

Conservation 2000 is an incentive based approach to natural resource protection. The intent is to protect natural resources in both public and private ownership through incentives to private landowners, easements and innovative partnerships.

Other components of Conservation 2000 include water quality protection, land acquisition, natural and recreational resource maintenance and stream bank restoration. The program also will fund soil conservation programs, technical assistance to landowners, research, public education efforts and the fashioning of incentives to encourage landowner cooperation.

In addition, long-term monitoring of ecological conditions will be instituted, an inter-agency information network organized and long-range planning programs devised. Federal, state and local agencies and private organizations will be brought into the planning process.

The Governor described Conservation 2000 as vital to the future of Illinois' natural resources and "a golden opportunity to protect those resources, not just for today but as a legacy for future generations."

Unquestionably, the plan will make natural resource protection and enhancement more doable and will bolster outdoor recreation opportunities statewide. But along the way, its show of concern for economic issues also could usher in an era of

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increased compatibility and cooperation among such diverse camps as conservation, agriculture, development, tourism, economic growth and recreation interests.

Implementation of the initiative will be spearheaded by five state agencies: the departments of Agriculture, Conservation, Energy and Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Division of Water Resources of the Department of Transportation.

Conservation 2000's focus on the preservation and management of large areas — or macrosites — and its espousal of "ecosystem-based management" places it in the forefront of current conservation thought.

Ecosystem-based management targets the needs of all species and other natural resources which exist or could exist in an ecosystem. It is management of the whole rather than concentrating only on its parts.

Conservation 2000 is expected to get its natural resource protection/expansion and recreation development missions under way in Fiscal Year 1995, which begins July 1. As its name indicates, the program's target date for achieving its goals is the year 2000.

House Bill 3477 is the trigger which will spring this pacesetting plan. The legislation, now being considered in the General Assembly, creates the initiative's funding mechanisms.

The bill provides for monthly transfer from the general revenue fund into a dedicated fund, establishing a repository for projects "related to natural resource protection, recreation, tourism and compatible agricultural and economic development activities." It also provides a special fund for capital expenditures.

First-year costs for Conservation 2000 are pegged at $6.5 million ($3.5 million from the general revenue fund and $3 million from the capital development fund). Expenditures for succeeding years are projected at $15, $17, $19, $20.5 and $22 million, respectively. Of this $100 million total, $60 million will come from general revenues and $40 million from the sale of bonds. The Department of Conservation will spend almost $53 million of those funds over the six-year span.

Conservation Director Brent Manning and Agriculture Director Becky Doyle co-chaired the diverse citizens' task force, which was composed of experts in agriculture, business, conservation, land use issues, law, recreation and water resources. Directors of the other five state agencies participating in Conservation 2000 were named ex-officio members. Representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Soil Conservation Service were consultants to the group.

After gaining input on their recommendations from the public, the panel completed its assignments in April 1993. It submitted to the Governor a final report listing 184 recommendations for actions on a wide variety of land, water, conservation and economic issues.

Despite having divergent perspectives, task force members agreed unanimously on most of the proposals. Conservation 2000 was distilled from these recommendations.

The task force saw natural resource stewardship and the provision of outdoor recreation opportunities as legitimate and important responsibilities of government. In addition, they are vital to Illinoisans' social well-being and quality of life, and critical to maintaining an attractive business climate in the state, the group declared.

Therefore, task force members concluded that government has an obligation to provide financial support for resource conservation and recreation expansion. That attitude is mirrored in plans to finance the Conservation 2000 program from bond sales and the state's General Revenue Fund, which addresses another task force concern: a need for stable and adequate funding if its recommendations were to be carried out.

HB 3477 establishes the Conservation 2000 projects fund.

Other themes besides money matters were repeated throughout the task force's recitation of recommendations and are reflected in Conservation 2000. Among them:

* Conservation and responsible use of the state's natural resources are critical because there are limits to these resources and to their ability to withstand the demands put upon them by the public.

* Long-range planning, intergovernmental cooperation and public involvement are key ingredients of responsible natural resource management.

* The public and private sectors must work together if problem solutions are to be long lasting.

* Because 90 percent of Illinois' land is privately owned, private and corporate property own-

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ers share a responsibility to manage their land so as to preserve the public benefits and public interest in them. Urban populations also should share in the costs and responsibilities of protecting those lands, since city dwellers, too, reap benefits from that protection.

* Education and communication are vital to the solution of water and land use conflicts.

Conservation's responsibilities under the program include:

* Identifying potential macrosites and greenway corridors; planning and coordinating their creation in cooperation with local governments and organizations.

* Forming a statewide network of large sustainable macrosites and connecting greenways by the year 2000, utilizing conservation easements, landowner incentives and land acquisition — or combinations of these — to achieve the goal.

* Protecting natural landscapes through voluntary, cooperative agreements with private landowners. Conservation 2000's accent will be on agreements primarily, rather than on land acquisition. Some ways of reaching these agreements already exist, such as conservation easements and cost-share programs offering funding for reforestation, providing habitat, management activities benefiting wildlife, prairie and wetland restoration and other practices. But the Department will be expected to devise additional innovative tools.

* Boosting state tree nursery production by 25 percent to meet landowner demands for tree and shrub seedlings, grass seed and prairie plants.

* Developing and distributing new educational materials explaining and promoting the Conservation 2000 initiative. Targets will include landowners, stewardship groups, the general public and local officials, agencies and organizations.

* Developing compatible outdoor recreation facilities and expanding operations at DOC sites that will become part of macrosites and greenways.

Conservation 2000 also will accelerate Phase 1 development of the Department's Site M property, a potential macrosite in Cass County. The goal is to enable the site to "realize its ecosystem-based management, outdoor recreation and tourism potentials," according to the Governor's budget report.

Phase 1 plans for the 15,574-acre tract, acquired last year, include habitat restoration and development of a lake, boat ramps, parking, trails, a campground and service complex. Projected cost of the work is $2.5 million.

A later phase might encompass a second lake, pond rehabilitation, trail system, site expansion and more habitat restoration. Total development costs of $14 million are anticipated for Site M by 2000.

The Conservation Department's major concerns in the new initiative — macrosites and greenways — are more easily described than defined.

Manning describes greenways as being vegetated corridors that follow abandoned railroad lines, utility transmission rights-of-way, river and stream corridors, canals, drainage corridors and even extra-wide highway rights-of-way. They serve as routes for the movement of wildlife, provide open space for people and help to preserve the biological diversity of plants and animals by connecting isolated natural areas.

Manning described macrosites as "roughly analogous to watersheds in scale." They cover tens of thousands of acres, encompass numerous land ownerships and include multiple individual sites and groupings of natural resources, he said.

Macrosites generally consist of segments that aren't contiguous, but are close enough to be linked by greenways. They even may be composed of two or more watersheds.

Manning mentioned southern Illinois' ecologically important Cache River watershed as one example of a macrosite. It totals more than 30,000 acres, includes a wide range of natural resources and encompasses properties owned by state, federal and local governments, several organizations and private landowners, he pointed out.

Other examples would include the 24,000-acre Joliet Arsenal in Will County and the Rock River area in northwestern Illinois.

Manning said a macrosite having the Joliet Arsenal at its core might top 40,000 acres with the inclusion of such DOC sites as Goose Lake Prairie, Kankakee River State Park and Des Plaines Conservation Area. Commonwealth Edison's Heidecke Lake and other publicly and privately owned properties in the vicinity would be a part of it, also.

A Rock River macrosite might be even bigger, Manning said. Castle Rock, Lowden, White Pines and Franklin Creek state parks, Lowden

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Miller State Forest and the Nature Conservancy's 1,000-acre Nachusa Grasslands would be among its components. Dixon Park District's properties on the river also might be included, along with several boy scout, girl scout and church camps in the area.

In addition to Site M, the Cache River watershed, Joliet Arsenal and the Rock River region, Conservation is eyeing the lower Illinois (at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers) and a segment of the Embarras River as possible candidates for the state's proposed new macrosite network, Manning said.

Following are brief descriptions of the responsibilities other state agencies have assumed under the Conservation 2000 initiative.

Department of Agriculture: Inventory and document the severity of stream bank erosion statewide; create a stream bank stabilization program; fund and implement the Sustainable Agriculture Act of 1990; provide operations support to Soil and Water Conservation Districts so they, in turn, can provide landowners with technical assistance on soil conservation, water quality protection, wetland management, flood control, natural areas management, conservation education, erosion control and other issues; and provide cost share funding for programs aimed at reducing soil erosion and sedimentation.

Division of Water Resources, Department of Transportation: Conduct a comprehensive review of Illinois' many water laws. The state's water laws have been characterized as numerous, ill-defined, sometimes obsolete and contradictory or duplicative, administered by a variety of agencies, lacking in comprehensive coverage and uncodified. The agency's task will be to identify inadequacies and conflicts, define strengths and weaknesses, compare the Illinois system with those being implemented in other states, and develop legislation and administrative procedures to address the inadequacies.

Environmental Protection Agency: Implement the Illinois Lake Management Act, which establishes comprehensive lake management programs that will help to control the causes and sources of lake pollution; enhance, protect or restore lakes throughout the state; and make available study grants and technical assistance that will enable lake owners and managers to prepare lake restoration and protection plans.

Department of Energy and Natural Resources:

Devise an ecosystem monitoring program and natural resource information network, and provide technical support for the Natural Resources Coordinating Council. The monitoring project will require identification and collection of environmental indicators needed to assess the condition of Illinois' environment. Formation of the council was recommended by the task force to provide a forum for state agencies to debate and develop multi-agency natural resource and environmental policies.

Fred Tetreault is a staff writer for the Illinois Department of Conservation. This article originally appeared in the May issue of DOC's magazine, Outdoor Illinois. •

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