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1		AN ACT concerning government.
2		Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3		represented in the General Assembly:
4		Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5		Illinois Natural Areas Stewardship Act.
6		Section 5. Legislative findings and statement of public
7		policy.
8		(a) The General Assembly finds that:
9		(1) The Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act
10		defines natural areas and creates the Illinois Nature
11		Preserves Commission to preserve the highest quality
12		natural areas in perpetuity to sustain for the people of
13		present and future generations the benefits of an enduring
14		resource of natural areas, including the elements of
15		natural diversity present.
16		(2) The Natural Areas Acquisition Fund, established in
17		the Open Lands Acquisition and Development Act, shall be
18		used by the Department of Natural Resources for the
19		acquisition, preservation, and stewardship of natural
20		areas, including habitats for endangered and threatened
21		species, high quality natural communities, wetlands, and
22		other areas with unique or unusual natural heritage
23		qualities.

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1		(3) The condition of dedicated and registered sites
2		tends to degrade over time without stewardship actions.
3		Once degraded, the public's significant investment is
4		devalued and these natural areas provide reduced benefit to
5		the people of present and future generations.
6		(4) Conservation land trusts have experience managing
7		natural areas in order to counter the constant and
8		increasing pressures exerted on conservation lands by
9		ecological succession, habitat fragmentation, hydrological
10		alteration, pollution, encroachment by invasive and exotic
11		species, and criminal trespass.
12		(5) This Act and the powers afforded to the Illinois
13		Nature Preserves Commission are desirable to guide and
14		preserve the highest quality natural areas in perpetuity.
15		(b) It is the purpose of this Act to:
16		(1) increase stewardship by providing stewardship
17		grants to conservation land trusts to help perform
18		stewardship actions on eligible lands; and
19		(2) to enhance stewardship capacity within
20		conservation land trusts in local areas.
21		Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
22		"Administrative decision" has the same meaning ascribed to
23		the term in Section 3-101 of the Administrative Review Law of
24		the Code of Civil Procedure.
25		"Commission" means the Illinois Nature Preserves

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1		Commission.
2		"Conservation land trust" means an entity exempt from
3		taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal
4		Revenue Code whose purposes include the restoration,
5		stewardship, or conservation of land, natural areas, open
6		space, or water areas for the preservation of native plants or
7		animals, biotic communities, geologic formations, or
8		archeological sites of significance.
9		"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.
10		"Eligible land" means a site that has been dedicated by the
11		Commission as an Illinois Nature Preserve or dedicated buffer
12		or registered as a Land and Water Reserve, and has a current,
13		approved management schedule.
14		"Illinois Natural Areas Stewardship Grant Program" means a
15		program established under Section 20 of this Act.
16		"Land" means real property and ownership rights applying to
17		it and includes the real property, structures, and
18		improvements.
19		"Management schedule" means an approved document
20		consistent with rules for Management of Nature Preserves or
21		rules for Register of Land and Water Reserves under the
22		Illinois Administrative Code developed for the preservation,
23		protection, management, and use of lands.
24		"Stewardship actions" means actions identified in an
25		approved management schedule which are designed to maintain,
26		preserve, or improve the condition of native natural

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1		communities, diversity of species, and ecological processes on
2		eligible lands, such as, but not limited to, prescribed burns,
3		control of exotic and invasive species, fencing, and other
4		restorative practices.
5		"Stewardship grant" means a grant from the Department to a
6		conservation land trust for the purpose of providing
7		stewardship actions under Section 20 of this Act.
8		Section 15. Powers, duties, and authorizations. The
9		Department may:
10		(1) make stewardship grants under Section 20 of this
11		Act from the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund to conservation
12		land trusts to conduct stewardship actions on eligible
13		lands;
14		(2) establish the total amount of funds available for
15		annual stewardship grants, except the amount of
16		stewardship grants made for any fiscal year may not exceed
17		the amount set by administrative rule and shall not result
18		in adverse impacts on the operations funded by the Natural
19		Areas Acquisition Fund;
20		(3) accept and receive any funds including by
21		agreement, grant, contract, donation, gift, or bequest
22		from any corporation, foundation, non-governmental agency,
23		individual, or instrumentality of any of those for the
24		purposes of executing stewardship grants under this Act and
25		these funds are to be deposited into the Natural Areas

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1		Acquisition Fund;
2		(4) develop and administer the Illinois Natural Areas
3		Stewardship Grant Program within the Department;
4		(5) adopt rules to effectuate the purposes of this Act;
5		or
6		(6) use funds received under this Act to pay for the
7		cost of departmental personnel; contractual, professional
8		or technical services; and equipment, materials, and
9		supplies necessary or appropriate to perform the functions
10		under this Act.
11		Section 20. Illinois Natural Areas Stewardship Grant
12		Program.
13		(a) The Illinois Natural Areas Stewardship Grant Program is
14		established to make grants to conservation land trusts for the
15		purpose of promoting stewardship actions on eligible lands.
16		(b) A conservation land trust in good standing with the
17		federal Internal Revenue Service may apply for a grant.
18		(c) An agency, organization, or entity that has taxing
19		powers, collects taxes, or has eminent domain powers is not
20		eligible to apply for the grant program under this Act.
21		(d) Eligible land held by agencies, organizations, or other
22		entities may be the recipient of stewardship actions conducted
23		under the grant as long as there is a properly executed
24		agreement between the agency, organization, or entity and the
25		conservation land trust that has been awarded the grant.

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1		(e) The Department shall adopt administrative rules in
2		consultation with the Commission for grant writing, the
3		selection of grant recipients, amount of grant awards, and
4		eligibility requirements to implement the purposes of this Act.
5		However, the rules shall include the following requirements:
6		(1) amounts for match and caps for any stewardship
7		grant under this Act; and
8		(2) the Commission shall be notified of any agreement
9		between a conservation land trust and an owner of eligible
10		lands for stewardship actions to be conducted under the
11		grant agreement.
12		Section 25. Priorities. In considering applications for
13		grants under this Act, the Department shall establish
14		priorities that:
15		(1) provide the greatest benefit to implementing the needs
16		and priorities identified in the Illinois Natural Area Plan,
17		the Illinois Sustainable Natural Areas Vision, and the Illinois
18		Wildlife Action Plan;
19		(2) provide the greatest benefit to other stewardship needs
20		identified by the Department, in consultation with the
21		Commission, in administrative rule; and
22		(3) consider, but not be limited to, the rarity and
23		condition of resources, severity of stewardship need,
24		timeliness of actions, proposed stewardship actions, and
25		availability of other resources.

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1		Section 30. Administrative Review Law. All final
2		administrative decisions under this Act are subject to judicial
3		review under the Administrative Review Law of the Code of Civil
4		Procedure.
5		Section 35. Fund depository. All funds, assessments,
6		fines, settlements, compensations, transfers, appropriations,
7		penalties, and donations made under this Act shall be deposited
8		into the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund subject to the
9		limitations described in subsection (2) of Section 15 of this
10		Act.
11		Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
12		becoming law.