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A small chance remains that constituent support could revive the prospects for a research and education center at Lost Mound.
 

Home  •  Field Notes  •   Lost Mound


Update on Lost Mound Field Station
Spring 2009

As many of you know, a funding initiative for the Lost Mound field station of the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) was included in the FY08 state budget. This initiative survived the harrowing budget process largely because of constituent support.

More recently however, we learned that former Governor Blagojevich vetoed Lost Mound from the FY09 budget. But with a new governor and new director of IDNR a small chance remains that constituent support could revive the prospects for a research and education center at Lost Mound.

Here are the details. The Lost Mound Initiative (LMI) is the most recent incarnation of efforts to acquire a vacant building at the former Savanna Army Depot for a field station that could house graduate students, visiting researchers, school groups, short courses, and a nature center. Several grant proposals to renovate a building were well-received but ultimately rejected because INHS lacked ownership of a building, or indeed, any footprint at all. It became clear that the only way to start the field station is for the state to buy the building (or land) as a start.

In late 2006 INHS staff drafted a modest budget ($138,000) and description of the field station plan. The bulk of the budget was to hire a prairie ecologist (the largest prairie in the state has no prairie ecologist!), fund two summer internships and cover basic operating expenses, while the first year of funding would buy the building and cover basic renovations for use. LMI was intended to provide a dependable source of funding and so was tied to the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund (NAAF), which gets its revenue from the tax on all real estate transactions rather than the General Revenue Fund, which is the huge pot of money that funds most state programs. Because LMI was to be funded by NAAF, it wasn’t subject to the annual budget haggling and cuts to GRF programs (like the budget for IDNR, INHS, etc), or so we thought.

LMI was one of several budget initiatives INHS sent in for consideration for the FY08 budget. Letters from constituents at key times kept LMI alive and ultimately it was in the budget passed by the legislature well into the fiscal year. In February 2008 we were told to proceed with the building acquisition and as late as May 2008 IDNR realty staff inspected the building and said everything was still on track. We had a willing seller for the building next to the FWS office, estimates for roof replacement, and had marked out a plot of land around the building to be surveyed. The state fiscal year ends June 30 but we were told not to worry because unlike GRF funds, special funds like NAAF can roll over into the next fiscal year.

When it came time to sign a letter to the effect that INHS would pay for the land survey (about $1600) if the building was not purchased, we were told the LMI funds had disappeared. I have heard several versions of what happened so I can only speculate about who in IDNR made the decision to use the funds for purposes other than what the General Assembly passed in the budget bill. Then, to top that, Governor Blagojevich vetoed LMI from the FY09 budget even though doing so had no bearing on the GRF budget he was claiming to keep reasonable. We know now that the veto was his way of saying Northwest Illinois didn’t matter to him.

After nearly 10 years of effort to establish the field station, the state walked away from their obligations. So the only option left is constituent input. If you support a field station at Lost Mound, please contact Governor Pat Quinn, new IDNR director Marc Miller, state representative Jim Sacia, and state senator Tim Bivins about restoring the Lost Mound initiative.

—Dan Wenny
  © 2009 Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois