Article by: Ted Kratschmer, ekratsch@lc.edu
Conservation staff from the National Great Rivers Research and
Education Center (NGRREC℠) may be coming to a watershed near
you.
As of Oct. 1, NGRREC℠ has deployed four staff members to work
across the Kaskaskia River and Illinois River watersheds with
agricultural conservation partners on the Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program (CREP) - a federal-state partnership to
establish stream buffers, restore wetlands, improve habitat and
permanently protect these restorations and buffers from
conversion.
Plans are in the works to add two additional staff in Lincoln,
Ill. and Marion, Ill. to augment the efforts of federal, state,
local and NGO partners working on the ground with the Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP).
"There's a good deal of funding available to private
landowners through federal and state programs to get conservation
on the ground. A small investment in human capital can
leverage substantial funding to do conservation in our Illinois
watersheds and impact our big river ecosystems," said Jake
Hendee, agricultural conservation programs field manager with
NGRREC℠. "The suite of research and education programs at the NGRREC℠
hub especially fuels our ability to pilot innovative, agile, and
science-based approaches to conservation."
This effort, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, will continue through
2015.
Current conservation staff include
Philip Cox, hosted by the Fayette County Soil and Water Conservation
District;
Jake Hendee, hosted by the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources in Springfield;
Lyndsey Ramsey, hosted by the DeWitt County Soil and Water
Conservation District, and
Elisa Royce, at
NGRREC℠.
For more information, contact NGRREC℠ at
ngrrec@lc.edu or the
conservation staff person in your area directly.