Cutbacks at Illinois DNR Jeopardize Programs

In mid-January, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) laid off 87 employees due to state budget cutbacks, bringing the total number of employees cut since October 2004 to 124. Since FY2001, due to an early retirement program in the last year of Governor Ryan’s term and budget cuts, DNR has lost 29 percent of its work force.

The latest cuts include closing the visitor center at the I & M Canal Visitor Center in Lockport and the state fish hatchery in Spring Grove, and a reduction in programs at Volo Bog, among others. The October cuts eliminated the staff of Illinois’ EcoWatch program, a highly successful and popular initiative that trained more than 1,000 volunteers to monitor the health of streams and rivers, prairies and forests statewide. Dedicated volunteers are continuing to collect data, but there are now no DNR staff to train new volunteers, compile the data, and track and monitor the health of natural areas over time.

News reports revealed that DNR’s director of resource conservation warned in an internal memo that the latest round of layoffs and proposed budget cuts “seriously jeopardize” critical programs, and the state may have to drop programs that attract hundreds of thousands of federal dollars simply because there is no one to run them.

In January, Illinois State Representative Mike Boland introduced a bill to restore funding for the 87 positions due to be cut by appropriating $2 million from the Wildlife and Fish Fund, but the General Assembly did not act before the close of the session. The bill awaits committee action.

Governor Blagojevich’s mid-February budget address called for rehiring 50 DNR employees on July 1, essentially acknowledging that cuts had gone too deep. The DNR’s overall proposed budget is $192.8 million, considerably less than the FY04 budget of $211 million.