The purpose of this survey is to offer the Calumet Land Conservation Partnership your or your organization's insight on land acquisition mechanisms used for landscape-scale conservation in northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. 

What is the Calumet Land Conservation Partnership?
The Calumet Land Conservation Partnership (CLCP) is a consortium of eight organizations working together to identify and prioritize the most strategic opportunities for landscape-scale land conservation in the northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana Calumet region. CLCP has a subset of members—the CLCP Policy Team—researching and evaluating policies, programs and funding mechanisms that could help with the identification and prioritization of land conservation opportunities.

Land Acquisition Mechanisms Overview
As an initial step, the CLCP Policy Team inventoried a range of mechanisms applicable in Illinois and/or Indiana that support conservation actions—whether they are land acquisition, restoration, management, or protection. Below is the Policy Team’s preliminary list of mechanisms relevant to land acquisition. It has been broken down into two broad categories, funding sources/grant programs and legal tools. Most of these mechanisms aim to achieve one or more of the three objectives: Improve land and aquatic habitat, build trails and/or access, and/or create and expand open space and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Funding Sources / Grant Programs
  • Bicycle Path Program via Illinois Trails Grant Program (currently suspended)
  • Bicentennial Nature Trust (BNT) Funding
  • Boat Access Area Development (BAAD) Grants
  • Illinois Habitat Fund (part of Special Wildlife Funds Grant Program)
  • Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
  • National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program
  • NOAA Coastal & Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP)
  • Open space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) Program
  • Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP) via LWCF
  • Recreational Trails Program (RTP)
Legal Tools
  • Conservation easements (or purchase of easements)
  • Land banks
  • Land donations
  • Land Trusts

Why a survey?
With the understanding that this list is just a start, the Policy Team would greatly appreciate your or your organization's input on land acquisition mechanisms so the list can be more comprehensive and reflective of what is realistically available and used in the field. For example, a few of the programs listed have a history of being under funded (e.g. Land Water Conservation Fund), or are not consistently available on an annual basis (e.g. Illinois Trails Grant Program, which is currently suspended). The CLCP Policy Team wants to hear your perspective on these types of programs. Which mechanisms are effective? Which are rarely used? And why?
 
The survey is eighteen questions total. It should take approximately 10-20 minutes. Thank you for taking the time to provide your input!

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* 1. Which funding sources and/or grant programs have you used to acquire land? Please select all that apply.

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* 2. Briefly describe the acquisition project(s) associated with each funding source and/or grant program selected above. The description(s) should include the project's conservation objective, general location, stakeholders involved, and type of land acquired. Please limit projects to those that were completed within the last 5-10 years.

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* 3. Which funding sources and/or grant programs have you applied for to advance land acquisition priorities, but did not receive funding? Please select all that apply.

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* 4. Which funding sources and/or grant programs are the most effective at advancing land acquisition priorities? Please select all that apply.

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* 5. Based on your selection above, why are these the most effective?

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* 6. Which funding sources and/or grant programs are the least effective at advancing land acquisition priorities (please select all that apply)?

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* 7. Based on your selection above, why are these the least effective?

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* 8. Which legal tools have you used to acquire land? Please select all that apply.

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* 9. Briefly describe the acquisition project(s) associated with each legal tool selected above. The description(s) should include the project's conservation objective, general location, stakeholders involved, and type of land acquired. Please limit projects to those that were completed within the last 5-10 years.

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* 10. Which legal tools have you attempted to use, but were unable to advance your land acquisition priorities? Please select all that apply.

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* 11. Which legal tools are the most effective at advancing land acquisition priorities? Please select all that apply.

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* 12. Based on your selection above, why are these the most effective?

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* 13. Which legal tools are the least effective at advancing land acquisition priorities? Please select all that apply.

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* 14. Based on your selection above, why are these the least effective?

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* 15. What are some of your frustrations with the land acquisition mechanisms (both funding sources/grant programs and legal tools) that exist today?

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* 16. Are there any land acquisition mechanisms (both funding sources/grant programs and legal tools) that are missing from the preliminary list outlined above?

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* 17. Are there mechanisms used in other states that might be applicable to Illinois and Indiana?

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* 18. Contact Information

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