Landowner Outreach

The land conservation program at National Great Rivers has grown significantly since 2021, with employees located throughout the State of Illinois. Supported and funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a federal agency within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Great Rivers employs three regional managers and 14 land conservation specialists who focus on providing technical assistance, field monitoring and guidance to both our federal NRCS partners and private landowners enrolled in Farm Bill programs, particularly the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) Program.

The most impactful part of this program is the one-on-one outreach by our land conservation specialists with landowners throughout the state. In Illinois, 96.1% of the land is privately held, and ~75% of Illinois’ total land area is farmland, which is why our outreach programs focus primarily on working with farmers interested in implementing conservation practices via Farm Bill programs like CRP and WRE. Helping landowners reduce soil erosion and nutrient loss is enormously beneficial to the landowner, and it also benefits the Mississippi River basin through improving water quality through nutrient loss reduction while also providing pollinator and wildlife habitat.

When land is enrolled in WRE, it is especially beneficial as Illinois has lost ~90% of its wetlands. Wetlands are critical on the landscape as they help to recharge groundwater, improve water quality through filtration, reduce flooding and provide critical habitat for a wide variety of animals ranging from amphibians to migratory waterfowl. Many threatened and endangered plant and animal species depend on wetlands, wetlands also provide climate resilience while sequestering carbon.