Fund for Wildlife Habitat Won’t Depreciate

A special state fund set up to benefit wildlife habitat will remain intact, the director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

There had been plans to transfer excess money from the Illinois Habitat Endowment Trust Fund to general revenue to help balance the state budget.

Joel Brunsvold, DNR director, said the fund has approximately $10 million, of which $3.5 million could have been transferred.

“They aren’t going to touch that money,” he said. “That $10 million base amount that is there is going to stay there. Our stamp committees and habitat committees will use that interest money to fund projects.”

The fund receives a portion of its income from the sale of a special Illinois Habitat Stamp that costs $5.50 this year, and proceeds from the sale of the sporting series of license plates. In 2003, 191,961 habitat stamps were sold, generating $960,747.

To receive federal matching funds for wildlife habitat, hunting and fishing programs, states must agree not to divert money to other uses.

Brunsvold said it was a matter of providing additional information about the fund to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the budget office.

“I called the governor’s office and talked to him about it. I told him it wasn’t a good idea,” Brunsvold said. “They just didn’t understand the situation. That’s our job to inform them of that, and they were very supportive and I thanked them for that.”

Becky Carroll, spokeswoman for Blagojevich’s budget office, said about a third of special state funds were eligible for transfers to the general fund.

“We excluded any funds that receive federal funding and those funds where there was an outstanding legal question regarding our authority to use excess money from such funds,” she said.

Carroll said 214 out of 650 special state funds were eligible.

She said a few funds on the list were brought to the budget office’s attention later, after the legislation passed, including the habitat trust fund.

She added that DNR is not responsible for the $3.5 million that cannot go toward state bills.

“DNR would not have to make that up,” she said. “We would have to find a way to balance the budget in some other way.”

Bob Becker, president of the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, a group that lobbies for sportsmen’s issues, praised Brunsvold for protecting dollars contributed by hunters and anglers.

“I’m glad Joel went to bat for it,” he said. “The sportsmen of Illinois will thank him for saving our habitat stamp funds from going to general revenue. That’s a win.”

Becker said sportsmen were uneasy at the prospect of their contributions going for other purposes, even questioning the wisdom of special license-plate purchases.

“I’ve got ‘em. Most sportsmen do,” he said of the plates that feature white-tailed deer, game birds and fish. “We do it so we know we’ve got some money there to help develop and improve the natural resources of Illinois.”

“The bottom line is that the governor shouldn’t be allowed to take dedicated funds and put it into general revenue,” he said.