Prairie State Conservation Coalition prides itself as the statewide coalition of diverse groups working in land conservation and stewardship across Illinois. Our latest conference in March was our largest with the most diverse group of participants and member organizations to date.

With the pressures from federal decisions to cut funding and impose firings of personnel that impact natural area protection, the opportunity to come together and celebrate accomplishments and work on solutions together for land conservation, which heals, stabilizes, and nourishes people and our environment, was at the forefront of hearts and minds.

2024 marked a banner year for land protected in acres saved in Illinois according to 10-year record keeping and reported in PSCC’s annual Year in Review, published by David Holman. With a landscape mostly dominated by corn and soy farmlands, this vital work of creating and connecting natural area corridors is crucial to the health of our soil, land, water, and environment overall. Those natural areas include unique habitats such as hill prairies, oak woodlands, cypress swamps, black oak savanna, sand dunes and unique geological features such as deep ravines and the unglaciated areas in the “driftless” region of Northwest Illinois.