BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE ME A GRANT?

"The Land and Water Conservation Fund in Illinois"

by Dale M. Hench, Chief Division of Grant Administration

On September 16, 1965 Illinois' first project under the new Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 was approved obligating $43,203.63 for the first Illinois comprehensive outdoor recreation plan (SCORP). The SCORP project was one of seven projects funded with Illinois' first Land and Water annual apportionment of $362,312. Several SCORP's and 13 subsequent annual apportionments later the Land and Water program is still strong (in fact stronger with annual authorization levels for the program raised by Congress in an amendment to the Land and Water Act in 1976) and plays a vital role in providing quality outdoor recreation opportunities for the citizens of Illinois.

Since the inception of the program, through federal fiscal year 1978, Illinois has been appropriated $78,011,899 in Land and Water assistance. This amount has been obligated to approximately 400 state and local projects and has helped acquire over 42,000 acres of public open space/recreational areas in a state with notable public park and recreation land deficits.

The Illinois Land and Water statistics are impressive and I don't feel remiss in citing a few more.

— agencies in 61 of Illinois' 102 counties have received Land and Water assistance. Top 12 counties - state and local projects - at the end of 1977.

County Land and Water Assistance

1) Cook	$13,898,449
2) Lake	11,011,210
3) DuPage	8,641,784
4) Will	3,442,997
5) Madison	2,973,450
6) Kane	2,510,963
7) Winnebago	2,307,638
8) McHenry	1,851,195
9) Kankakee	1,597,920
10) Macon	1,401,059
11) Champaign	1,383,826
12) Peoria	1,289,355

— Illinois receives the fifth largest Land and Water apportionment annually; behind California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas (in that order); the annual apportionment formula is based on state's population - in 1976 Illinois moved from fourth to fifth, with Texas gaining and Illinois losing enough population to put Texas $200,000 over Illinois' apportionment level.

— the largest annual Illinois Land and Water apportionment to date: $12,064,277 in federal fiscal year 1978.

— the largest single Land and Water project award: $5,656,791 for acquisition at Illinois Beach State Park on Lake Michigan.

— the largest Land and Water award to a local project: $2,594,099 for acquisition by the Cook County Forest Preserve District.

Enough statistics, enough! What then is the Land and Water Conservation Fund Program (LAWCON) LAWCON is a financial assistanci program administered by the federal Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service (formerly the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation) through the Department of Conservation in Illinois. The program provides up to 50% reimbursement for the acquisition and/or development of outdoor recreation areas and facilities, is available to both the Department and local governmental agencies empowered to acquire and develop lands for park and recreation purposes, and is primarily financed through revenues derived from offshore oil leases. Thousands of governmental units in Illinois are eligible for participation in the program and the Division of Grant Administration receives about 200 local project applications annually.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 14 September/October, 1978

Projects being considered for Land and Water assistance cannot be initiated until both State and federal approval has been granted and the program will not fund projects retroactively. The application timeline contains these milestones:

(1) September 1 of each year: Local Land and Water applications due to the Division of Grant Administration

(2) October through December: Staff review and evaluation of submitted projects

(3) Mid December: Conservation Advisory Board public hearing and review of projects

(4) Late December/Early January: State approval of projects

(5) January-April: Submission of formalized project applications by the Department of Conservation to HCRS

(6) Spring: Federal approval of projects The annual local project request level exceeded $22 million in FY '78; $8.5 million of the FY '78 Land and Water appropriation was made available for local project utilization in that year. Needless to say, the program is very competitive; approximately 40Vo of theFY '78 requesting projects were approved. Project evaluations are based on need, resource and site characteristics, local initiative and evidence of planning. Timeliness and quality of the application, past project assistance, administration by the sponsor of past projects, and the magnitude of the request are other review factors.

By state policy, effective the September 1978 grant cycle, approval will be limited to a single acquisition and/or development project per local sponsor in a given fiscal year. Maximum federal assistance ceilings have been established by the State of $750,000 for acquisition projects and $200,000 for development projects. Both of these policies were established to spread limited funds among more agencies.

The annual apportionment is normally split on a 50/50 basis between state and local projects with 65% of the local apportionment earmarked for acquisition assistance and 35% allocated to development projects.

The Land and Water program has been and will continue to be a tremendous asset to Illinois. Land and Water assistance does, however, obligate the project sponsor to certain restrictions and federal requirements that can easily be translated as RED TAPE. It is incumbent upon the local agency to analyze all Land and Water procedures and requirements against expected financial assistance before initiating a project request. Indeed, such analysis is the critical first step.

(Editors note: See also article in this issue titled, "Swing into Funding.")

Illinois Parks and Recreation 15 September/October, 1978