Like a distant explosion, brightly visible but not loud and nerve-shattering, a very quiet natural areas land boom is taking place right now in Illinois.

In towns and countryside alike, small patches of undeveloped land have suddenly acquired a value transcending potential profitability or even recreational use; their worth as natural areas can't be measured in dollars and is only now beginning to be understood in a somewhat quantitative manner.

Natural areas worthy of preservation have been discovered in all but three of Illinois's 102 counties during the exhaustive 3 1/2-year Natural Areas Inventory completed last fall by the Illinois Department of Conservation. According to the inventory, 276 of these remarkable areas lie, in need of protection, within the boundaries of local park, forest preserve, conservation and soil and water conservation districts. Another 118 are at least partially owned by local governments, but only 31 of these are considered protected by virtue of their management or dedication as nature preserves.

Local governments figure prominently in the challenge of salvaging what the Natural Areas Inventory tells us is left of the state's natural heritage. It is crucial that all levels of government help save natural areas because the 1,089 sites identified by the inventory are too numerous for the Department of Conservation alone to buy and manage. Besides, many are too small or in areas too populous to be protected adequately by the state or even in some cases by county governments, "If it is within municipal boundaries, a nature preserve has to have the protection and frequent attention that a park district can provide. Within a town there's no way you can keep people out of it," says Gerald Paulson of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.

The terms "natural areas" and "nature preserves" sometimes cause confusion, so a word of explanation is in order. A typical state park or county forest preserve, though usually of great scenic and recreational value, is not in the same class as a nature preserve. Many Illinois parks are reclaimed farmland or second and third growth forest, whereas properties dedicated by the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission are, most often, in the parlance of the naturalists, "relatively undisturbed" by man or nearly virginal. One way of looking at a nature preserve is as a living outdoor museum piece of the state's natural history, which can render tremendous educational and research benefits. Because these areas are so rare, they often go unnoticed by persons unfamiliar with the distinctions between prairie and meadow, between native and exotic plant species.

Of the 1,089 natural areas catalogued by the inventory, 610 are classified as relatively undisturbed Category I areas. The remainder fit into one or another category (such as the presence of endangered species, significant geological outcroppings, etc.) that distinguishes them as being rare. Many of these disturbed areas are already, or could be, part of the Illinois Nature Preserves System, says Paulson, but top priority for preservation and inclusion into the system will generally be accorded those 610 Category I areas most responsible of our land's past.

A double dilemma faces all those parties committed to salvaging as much as possible of the state's natural heritage. On one hand, only a tiny portion of the land remains as it was 200 years ago: the 610 undisturbed areas — including ones now saved — amount to only 25,723 acres.

The other side of the dilmemma is that although not much is left, far less has been saved. Only 8,574 acres or about one-third of those virginal areas are already protected and part of the Illinois Nature Preserves System. To further complicate things is the time factor: changing land use patterns mean that many of the areas currently on the inventory will not survive unless protection is soon given them.

To prevent further loss of natural areas, several steps are being taken by both public and private agencies to follow up the inventory.

First, regional and countywide planning and land management agencies have been sent copies of the inventory for their respective counties by the Department of Conservation to aid in any planning or purchasing they might attempt.

Secondly, the Department of Conservation is using inventory data to put together a state natural areas plan, says John Schwegman, chief of the Natural Areas Section of the Illinois Department of Conservation. The purpose of this plan, explains Schwegman, is to map

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out priorities for acquisition, based on a goal of achieving representation of all the types of natural communities found in the state and based upon representations of each of the natural geographic divisions of Illinois.

While the state natural areas plan is being formulated, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission and the Nature Conservancy are conducting a private landowner contact program to let each of the owners of the 477 privately owned Category I natural areas know just how unique their land is. With about 80 preliminary contacts made, Paulson estimates that about 10 percent of these owners will be receptive to the idea of donating at least a portion of their private natural areas. In most of the cases that involve donations, he says, local governments will be called upon to accept ownership of the natural areas.

Local agencies reluctant to take on the responsibility of a natural area might well look to the experience of other park districts and cities already managing dedicated nature preserves. Natural areas have proven to be relatively inexpensive to run, have greatly enhanced local programs and have received consistent support from local citizenry.

The beauty of Trout Park Nature Preserve in Elgin has inspired area residents to take a fiercely protective attitude toward the preserve's 26 acres of upland forest, Fox River bluffs and springs. Trout Park's neighbors proved their commitment several years ago when they demanded and got action from the city to rearrange stormwater drainage which was causing erosion in the nature preserve, says Philip Bennett, director of public property and recreation for the city. "There's a high degree of awareness and a high degree of pride in Trout Park," Bennett adds. His comments are typical of park administrators who report that most of their constituents regard possession of a nature preserve as highly desirable.

The expense of maintaining a nature preserve can be minimal, according to Douglas Loudermilk, superintendent of the Princeton Park District. Meyer Woods Nature Preserve, four miles east of Princeton, lies outside the boundaries of the park district but was donated to the district in 1959 with the proviso that it be kept in as natural a state as possible. The only expense in maintaining the woods is occasional mowing of the preserve's roadside and the cost of a sign, reports Loudermilk.

Nor need a more ambitious program of interpretation be terrible costly; with a budget of $61,000 annually, the Peoria Park District maintains an interpretive center, a small museum and store in an A-frame at the 90-acre Forest Park Nature Preserve. Included in the budget are salaries for three full-time interpretive specialists who conduct lecture series in Peoria schools during the winter (for which those school districts help share expenses).

Another factor to encourage those park districts (or any local governments) to work with natural areas within their communities, is that help in acquiring and managing the land is available from several sources: the Department of Conservation, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and other private organizations.

A major source of aid available through the Department of Conservation is the federally funded Land and Water Fund grant program for open space land acquisition, which the state administers. "The acquisition of prime natural areas is a consideration in allocation of Land and Water Funds," says Dale Hench, chief of the Grant Administration Division of the Department of Conservation. It's not the only consideration, and competition for the money is heavy, but having are area named on the inventory is certainly an added incentive for funding. Some $4.6 million in Land and Water money was allocated last winter to local governments for 50 percent reimbursement on land acquisition projects.

Technical expertise in evaluating a natural area and managing it is available through the Nature Preserves Commission. Management is necessary to determine what, if any, environmental problems threaten a natural area — and how to deal with them. Allowable human activities within a nature preserve are also prescribed by the Commission.

Because of its experience in financing acquisition of natural lands, the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy can help local governments with grantsmanship, dealing with private donors and other financing matters. As a private agency the Conservancy also purchase immediately threatened land much more

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quickly than can governmental authorities. Later, when a means of governmental financing is worked out, the Conservancy will turn around and sell the property to a governmental agency.

Although not as well known as some other conservation and environmental activist groups, this nationwide organization has forged a role as realtor of the conservation movement. The Illinois Chapter has spent $23 million since 1957 to set aside 10,000 acres, much of which is of nature preserve quality.

An example of the intricate dealings that can be effected to save a choice parcel of land is the deal put together a couple of years ago by the Conservancy to save what is now the Norris Nature Preserve along the banks of the Fox River in St. Charles. The Conservancy first bought the 74-acre upland forest from a private development company with $1,145,000 borrowed from its national organization's revolving fund. The Nature Conservancy turned around and sold the property to the City of St. Charles and the St. Charles Park District as joint owners for $845,000. The remainder of the Nature Conservancy's debt was paid by local philanthropists and private foundation grants.

The city was able to pay the Nature Conservancy with $45,000 in cash from federal Revenue Sharing funds and a bond for $800,000. A state grant for reimbursement of $500,000 was obtained by the city through the Department of Conservation's Grant Administration Division. The city was able to claim a $500,000 remibursement — more than 50 percent of its own investment of $845,000 — because a reduction in price or donation of a portion of land can be credited as part of the purchase price of a parcel of land for the purposes of obtaining an open space grant. (In this case the Nature Conservancy signed a waiver of just compensation from the city.) Thus a local government, theoretically, can, if it obtains a donation for one-half the value of a parcel, receive reimbursement for the other half and have a total net outlay of zero.

The park district agreed to pay off the remaining debt of $300,000 on the bond over a five-year period.

So the opportunities both for preservation and help in accomplishing that purpose are still abundant. If your park district can contribute to saving a fragment of natural land, the prudence of that course will be recognized for generations to come.

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