(525 ILCS 31/15)

Sec. 15. Powers, duties, and authorizations. The Department may:

(1) make stewardship grants under Section 20 of this Act under an appropriation made from the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund to conservation land trusts to conduct stewardship actions on eligible lands;

(2) establish the total amount of funds available for annual stewardship grants, except the amount of stewardship grants made for any fiscal year may not exceed the amount set by administrative rule and shall not result in adverse impacts on the operations funded by the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund;

(3) accept and receive any funds including by agreement, grant, contract, donation, gift, or bequest from any corporation, foundation, non-governmental agency, individual, or instrumentality of any of those for the purposes of executing stewardship grants under this Act and these funds are to be deposited into the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund;

(4) develop and administer the Illinois Natural Areas Stewardship Grant Program within the Department;

(5) adopt rules to effectuate the purposes of this Act; or

(6) from an appropriation made to the Department for this purpose, use funds received under this Act to pay for the cost of departmental personnel; contractual, professional or technical services; and equipment, materials, and supplies necessary or appropriate to perform the functions under this Act.

(Source: P.A. 100-420, eff. 8-25-17.)