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Identified Conservation Priority Areas
Seven sources of information are considered simultaneously in this map.
Most of these sources are measures of biological diversity or importance,
and show a high degree of agreement. Illinois Natural Areas Inventory
(INAI) sites, shown as single points on this map, include high quality
natural communities, habitat for threatened and endangered species, and
areas that support unique concentrations of species. Locations of endangered
and threatened (E&T) wildlife are records within the past ten years,
derived from the IDNR’s database for monitoring the distribution
of E&T species.
The Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is an international effort by the
National Audubon Society to identify, conserve, and monitor a network
of sites that provide essential habitat for bird populations. Sites are
nominated by citizens and evaluated on the criteria of breeding habitat
for rare and declining species, concentrations of waterfowl, raptors,
shorebirds, wading birds and migrant songbirds, and important research
locations. Please note the IBA process is relatively new in Illinois,
and the sites designated to date are by no means a complete representation
of all areas that might qualify as an Important Bird Area. For more information,
please go to: http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/
and
http://www.habitatproject.org/iba.asp
“Stewardship” areas on this map are publicly-held conservation
lands, including county forest preserves, state fish and wildlife areas,
national forests, and national fish and wildlife refuges. This information
was developed as part of the Illinois GAP Analysis Project. For more information,
please go to: http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cwe/gap/
The Nature Conservancy’s Portfolio Sites are developed through their
Conservation By Design framework. Portfolio sites are conservation areas
within and across ecoregions (see The Nature Conservancy Ecoregions map)
that represent the full distribution and diversity of native species,
natural communities and ecosystems. Designing ecoregion-based portfolios
is a complex, iterative process based on five steps: (1) identifying the
species, communities and ecosystems in an ecoregion, (2) setting specific
goals for the number and distribution of these conservation targets to
be captured in the portfolio, (3) assembling information and relevant
data on the location and quality of conservation targets, (4) designing
a network of conservation areas that most effectively meets the goals,
and (5) identifying the highest priority conservation areas, wide-ranging
targets and pervasive threats for conservation action. For more information,
please go to: http://nature.org/aboutus/howwework/cbd/
The "Inventory of Resource Rich Areas in Illinois" is a product
of the Critical Trends Assessment Project and the Ecosystems Program of
the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Watersheds were evaluated
using four equally-weighted variables: percent of the watershed in forest,
percent of the watershed in wetland, total area of Illinois Natural Areas
Inventory sites, and total length of Biologically Significant Streams.
In total, RRAs cover 19.8% of the state. While nearly half the area within
the RRAs is in agricultural production, less than 15% of the state's total
cropland occurs in the RRAs. The RRAs include over one-third of the woodlands,
nearly half the wetlands, 76% of all Illinois Natural Areas Inventory
acreage, and 48% of all Biologically Significant Stream mileage. For more
information, please go to:
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cwe/rra/rra.html
“High Quality Aquatic” resources are Biologically Significant
Streams and ‘A’-quality streams of the Biological Stream Characterization.
Biologically Significant Stream designation is based on a comprehensive
evaluation of the state's aquatic resources, and indicates the presence
of high quality aquatic systems. The criteria included fish populations,
water quality, macroinvertebrates, endangered and threatened species,
and mussel diversity. The database is maintained at the Illinois Natural
History Survey and was current as of November 1995. Grade A streams of
the Biological Stream Characterization, based on data through 1993, are
unique aquatic resources with an Index of Biotic Integrity (based on fish
species richness and composition, trophic composition, and fish abundance
and condition) score of 51 to 60 on a 60- point
scale.
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