AP News, April 20th, 2007
About 430 acres of forests and limestone bluffs at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers will become a scenic nature area that preservationists say will be a haven for endangered or threatened species.
The Palisades Preserve _ along Illinois Route 100, or the Great River Road _ will comprise the region's largest chunk of privately owned, undeveloped land, said Alley Ringhausen, head of the nonprofit Great Rivers Land Trust.
The trust bought the land from Alton-based Adams Development Co., which had owned it for about 40 years, with the help of a $3 million loan from the national Conservation Fund.
The trust will repay the loan with the help of gifts from two private foundations, and anticipated support from several St. Louis-based corporate foundations. The property was deeded to the Lewis and Clark Community College Foundation, while the trust retains a conservation easement to the property.
The preserve is expected to help protect at least 11 endangered or threatened species, including the bald eagle, Indiana bat, timber rattlesnake and prairie bush clover.
The college and trust will jointly develop a land-management plan that will include ways the community might use it. The preserve will be be part of educational and research programs of the college and the area's National Great Rivers Research and Education Center.
Adams Development President Scott Adams called the preserve _ along a migratory bird flyway _ an ecological treasure and said he was pleased the land's beauty will be preserved while it is used to promote education and the environment.
Adams said his company will keep a roughly 170-acre tract bordered by the new preserve and Route 100, with plans to continue residential and resort development.
The land trust has helped protect more than 2,500 acres of undeveloped land, including the preserve, through purchase or conservation easements.
The Conservation Fund has helped government agencies and nonprofit organizations acquire and conserve more than 5.5 million acres of land across the country.
