Late last month, State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) filed a senate bill to extend the Partners for Conservation Fund, a program run through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, through 2032. The funding for the program would rise from $10 million to more than $25 million over the next 10 years.

Illinois is one of 11 states in the Mississippi River basin that have pledged to develop strategies to reduce the amount of nutrients leaving their borders. The state set a goal to reduce nitrates and nitrogen runoff by 15% and phosphorus runoff by 25% before 2025. However, the most recent update from 2020 showed that nitrate/nitrogen loss rose by 13% and phosphorus loss grew by 35% compared to the baseline period of 1980 to 1996.

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This article appeared in the February 2022 issue of Journal of Nutrient Management on page 5.

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