Sustaining the Illinois Department of Natural Resources through Working Lands

摘要

Restoring, protecting, and managing Il-linois's natural infrastructure-our forests, prairies, wetlands, floodplains, streams, rivers, and shorelines-is the responsibility of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). However, over the last seven years, the IDNR has faced significant budget cuts, which severely impair the department's ability to meet its mandate. This was strikingly illustrated in 2008 by the temporary closures of our state parks. This year, to bridge a significant budget deficit, IDNR employees have been laid off and services cut. At the same time, the IDNR is considering an increase in user fees for state parks and license fees for hunting and fishing. However, while periodic fee increases may provide a budgetary stopgap, they are politically unpopular and, in the long-run, not commensurate with the resource needs of the state. Most appropriately, the department should consider a strategy that could generate financial resources using its principal asset: land. We would propose that the department undertake a careful evaluation of the ecosystem services that might be produced by its floodplains and wetlands and the market by which the credits for these services might be sold. The market would be analogous to the markets that operate for atmospheric sulfur or carbon.