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From the Liberty Prairie Conservancy
Ducks Unlimited and Doris Duke team up with Liberty Prairie Conservancy to preserve wildlife habitat in Lake County
Ducks Unlimited has recently awarded $70,000 in grants to Liberty Prairie Conservancy to preserve wildlife habitat in Lake County. Funded through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the grants are earmarked to protect ecologically significant natural areas in the Des Plaines River Valley, one of several areas in the county the Liberty Prairie Conservancy has been working for the past four years.
“These organizations seek our help in carrying out the protection that’s called for in the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan,” said Steve Barg, Executive Director of the Liberty Prairie Conservancy. “The plan identifies the importance of the Des Plaines River Valley for wildlife habitat, and the need to preserve additional acres from development.”
Habitat protection will come in the form of conservation easements voluntarily placed on private properties by their owners. By placing a conservation easement on a property, the owner and anyone who buys or inherits it in the future is prohibited from developing it, a restriction that stays with the land in perpetuity. Across the nation, conservation easements protect over six million acres from development. Recognizing their public value, Congress recently extended powerful easement tax incentives, effective through 2009.
The Liberty Prairie Conservancy is a non-profit organization that preserves wildlife habitat, farmland and other open space throughout Lake County. With Lake County’s population growth projected to remain intense for the next 15 years, the group works to protect the county’s natural heritage and to safeguard the economic and aesthetic benefits derived from open space. For more information visit www.libertyprairie.org.
