Climate Change and Natural Lands

While Illinois is known as the prairie state, it also boasts a wide range of other natural ecosystems and lands. We are home to beautiful bogs, wetlands, and forests (including urban forests). Unfortunately, due to urban sprawl and agricultural expansion, we have already lost many of these valuable ecosystems. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has long been committed to protecting, enhancing, and maintaining prairies, forests, bogs, and wetlands. In fact, IDNR chaired the 30X30 Conservation Task Force to create a robust strategy to protect and expand the natural lands and waters of our state by 30% by the year 2030 to protect biodiversity and to fight climate change. The Task Force held listening sessions across the state and submitted a report to the General Assembly in 2022. 

Many questions remain with respect to IDNR and how climate change impacts Illinois’ natural resources: Specifically, how is climate change impacting these ecosystems, and how do these ecosystems help us address climate change?