Prairie Rivers Seeks Help in Champaign/Vermilion Counties

[Mike Clifford]

If you live in the Champaign/Urbana area, you were likely forwarded from me the following already.

 

If I missed anyone, please consider lending a hand on this very important project!

 

Call me or email so we can discuss:

773-771-9042

isaconservation@comcast.net

 

Hello,

My name is Laura Kammin and I recently started working for Prairie Rivers

Network in Champaign, IL as their habitat conservation specialist.

I am trying to make initial contact with Mike Clifford, John Graham, and

Steve Jordan. I'm not sure if this e-mail address is the correct one to

use.

 

I am working with the IDNR to bring together partners in the Vermilion River

Conservation Opportunity Area, which covers parts of Champaign and

Vermilion Counties as well as small sections of southern Ford and Iroquois

Counties.

I am trying to bring together private landowners, conservation groups, and

others to see where we might have common interests.

 

I am copying the e-mail with an invitation to our next meeting as well as

attaching the meeting flyer and a map of the COA area. If you are able to

attend the meeting on June 29th, it would be great to have your

participation.

If you cannot attend, but would like more information, please feel free to

e-mail or give me a call. Also, if you know of landowners who may be

interested in the meeting, please feel free to distribute the flyer and

map to them.

Thank you for your time,

Laura

_____________________________

Laura Kammin

Habitat Conservation Specialist

Prairie Rivers Network

1902 Fox Dr., Suite G

Champaign, IL 61820

(217) 344-2371

http://prairierivers.org/about/

 

You are receiving this notification because you are a potential

stakeholder in the Vermilion/ Little Vermilion River Conservation

Opportunity Area identified by the Illinois Department of Natural

Resources (IDNR). This COA encompasses the majority of Vermilion County,

the eastern half of Champaign County, and small sections in the southern

part of Ford and Iroquois Counties (please see attached map).

 

On Tuesday, June 29th, from 6 to 8 PM, at the Champaign County Extension

Office Auditorium (801 N. Country Fair Drive, Champaign) there will be a

working meeting to discuss the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan, the

Vermilion/ Little Vermilion River COA Partnership, and the completion of

an action plan for this COA (please see attached flyer).

 

This meeting is a follow up to the May 2009 stakeholder meeting sponsored

by the IDNR and Prairie Rivers Network. At that meeting, we introduced

stakeholders to the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan and Conservation

Opportunity Areas, and discussed defining the conservation philosophy for

this region. Meeting attendees brought management plans for private and

public lands within the COA and gave them to us so that we could summarize

stakeholder's conservation priorities within the COA.

 

With that effort completed, we want to put together a management plan for

the Vermilion/ Little Vermilion River Conservation Opportunity Area and

formalize the partnership. To do this, we need your help!

 

If you did not attend the first meeting THAT'S OKAY! Please attend the

June 29th meeting. It is not too late to participate in the planning

process. We will present the pertinent information from last year's

meeting to refresh the memories of attendees of that meeting and to bring

new attendees up to speed on the process.

 

In addition to brief overviews of the COAs and the Wildlife Action Plan,

at this working meeting, we are going to:

 

1). Present our findings on what the conservation threats, priorities, and

targets are in this COA are and ask for input from stakeholders.

 

2). Discuss what a COA partnership is/ is not and how being part of the

Vermilion River COA partnership can benefit you and your organization.

 

3). Discuss the future of COAs in Illinois.

 

There will be a lot of useful information presented for anyone who is

interested in conservation in the region. We especially want private

citizens, non-governmental organizations, and municipality representatives

dealing with conservation to attend. By working together, our goal is to

help stakeholders become more competitive for limited funding

opportunities and to increase the capacity of sharing wildlife habitat

management expertise.

 

We expect the Vermilion River COA management plan to be in place by the

end of summer 2010. YOUR INPUT IS CRUCIAL! PLEASE ATTEND!! Refreshments

will be provided.

 

Thank you and please forward this message and/ or the attached flyer to

any interested parties.

 

Sincerely,

 

David J. Myers

Conservation Opportunity Areas Project Manager

Southern Illinois University

Department of Zoology

Carbondale, IL 62901-6501

(618) 694-5615

 

Laura Kammin

Habitat Conservation Specialist

Prairie Rivers Network

1902 Fox Dr., Suite G

Champaign, IL 61820

(217) 344-2371

http://prairierivers.org/about/

[Norm M]

If I lived down that way, I'd get involved. If you want to have a voice in how things are done, you need to attend meetings like this. I know, I do it on my home watershed.