Partners for Parks and Wildlife

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Partners for Parks and Wildlife is a grassroots coalition that aims to secure and increase funding for open space and park acquisition, natural area preservation, wildlife habitat protection and recreational opportunities in Illinois. Further, Partners for Parks and Wildlife will seek to advance the following issues:

*Review the governance and administration of natural resources in Illinois
*Enhance public education & outreach
*Seek responsible statewide natural resource policies and programs
*Build strong relationships with key decision makers
*Increase communications with media outlets regarding natural resource issues

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER
Forest Preserve District of DuPage County
Illinois Association of Park Districts
Illinois Environmental Council
Land Trust Alliance
The Nature Conservancy
Openlands
Pheasants Forever
Sierra Club
The Trust for Public Land

HISTORY
In February 2004, the Partners for Parks and Wildlife (PPW) coalition began to take shape as a collective way for diverse environmental groups to respond to Governor Blagojevich's proposal to take a "holiday" from funding open space acquisition in Illinois in particular, by redirecting dedicated funding in the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Fund (OSLAD) and the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund (NAAF). The coalition ultimately grew to more than 130 member organizations and was successful in restoring to the state budget all of the $56 million in proposed cuts that year. The following year, PPW secured $18 million of proposed cuts, and in 2006 it prevented a $20 million slash while also increasing the new appropriation by $13 million -- a three-year total of $107 million.

Since then, PPW has remained a vigilant watchdog of the state's actions concerning protection and acquisition of open space, advocating for regular funding for open space acquisition through its iSPACE proposal and fighting to restore $19 million in cuts to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources budget that were proposed by Gov. Blagojevich in July 2008 (go to Issues page).