Illinois Administrative Code › Title 17 - CONSERVATION › Part 1523 - PARTNERS FOR CONSERVATION - ECOSYSTEMS PROGRAM › Section 1523.150 - Ecosystem Vision Plan, Project, and Support Grant Compliance Requirements

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
All recipients of the Ecosystem Vision Plan, Ecosystem Project
				or Ecosystem Partnership Support Grants must comply with the following program
				requirements:
a) The grantee must
			 notify the media that the Ecosystem Vision Plan or Ecosystem Project has
			 received funding from the State of Illinois, Department of Natural Resources,
			 Conservation 2000 Fund. All publications, written documents, news articles, TV
			 and radio releases, interviews and personal presentations that relate to this
			 project must credit the Department's Conservation 2000 Ecosystems Program. A
			 notice crediting the Conservation 2000 Ecosystems Program must be posted at the
			 main entrance to any real property or interest in real property purchased under
			 the program.
b) For grants or
			 agreements that include the purchase of equipment, the grantee must provide a
			 written report to the Department by March 31 for equipment purchased during the
			 preceding calendar year (January 1 through December 31) and an equipment usage
			 report must be submitted for each of the succeeding three calendar years after
			 purchase. Equipment usage reports must include a detailed description of the
			 equipment items, a description of habitat management accomplished, resources
			 protected, theft prevention measures, property and license controls, and a
			 quantitative measure of equipment usage. Equipment purchased by the grantee,
			 under the terms of a grant, shall become the property of the grantee. Equipment
			 acquired under this program may not be employed for commercial purposes, and
			 may only be used for purposes similar to those described in the Ecosystem
			 Vision Plan, Ecosystem Partnership Support or Ecosystem Project grant
			 agreement.
c) The grantee must
			 provide a written preliminary report to the Department within 90 days after
			 receipt of notice of the award of Conservation 2000 Funds for conservation or
			 habitat practices, land acquisition or a conservation easement. The report
			 shall be for the portions of the property covered by a practice, acquisition or
			 easement funded in part or solely by the Department. The report shall include
			 specifics on the project site, ownership, conditions, changes, and any issues
			 specified in the grant agreement. Thereafter, the grantee must provide to the
			 Department a written report containing this same information once every 5 years
			 throughout the life of the practice, throughout the duration of the easement,
			 or as long as the acquisition is held in the grantee's ownership. It shall be
			 the obligation of the grantee to ensure the reporting requirements are also
			 binding on any successors or assigns.
d) If the purchase of equipment is part of an
			 Ecosystem Vision Plan, Ecosystem Project or Ecosystem Partnership Support
			 Grant, and the cost of that equipment, individually or in aggregate from the
			 same vendor, meets or exceeds $25,000, the equipment must either be purchased
			 through an established State, federal or municipal procurement process, or
			 purchased through a competitive procurement process. In the latter case,
			 documentation of invitation, submission, opening, evaluation, correction,
			 withdrawal, and award of bids will be required for reimbursement. The
			 Department reserves the right to require the grantee to use a written,
			 competitive sealed bidding process for costs under $25,000.
e) If the purchase of professional or
			 artistic services, computer equipment telecommunication equipment, software or
			 services is identified as a project component, and the cost meets or exceeds
			 $25,000, the grantee must use a written process for the solicitation of
			 competitive sealed proposals, unless the grantee verifies, in writing, that
			 competitive sealed bidding for a single procurement is not practical or
			 advantageous; or the grantee documents, in writing, to the Ecosystems Division,
			 that sole source procurement is the most economically feasible solution. The
			 Department reserves the right to require the grantee to use a written,
			 competitive sealed bidding process for costs under $25,000.
f) All equipment, materials, supplies or
			 personal property purchased through the Ecosystems Program is subject to
			 retrieval by the Department and/or reassignment by the Director upon
			 dissolution of the grantee, abandonment of the Ecosystem Vision Plan process,
			 Ecosystem Project or Ecosystem Support function, or as a result of grantee
			 non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the grant. All property
			 retrieved by the Department shall be reassigned by the Director for uses as
			 similar as possible to the original Ecosystem Vision Plan process, Ecosystem
			 Project or Ecosystem Partnership Support purposes.
g) Any real property or interest in real
			 property purchased with State funds, in part or solely, under the Ecosystems
			 Program must have a lien or conservation easement, as deemed appropriate by the
			 Department, recorded on the property and must be available for inspection by
			 Department staff to determine compliance with provisions of the purchase and/or
			 provisions of the grant. Any diversion of such property from its stated uses
			 shall be grounds for recovery of the funds granted toward purchase of the
			 property. The grantee shall replace the property, upon a determination that a
			 diversion has occurred, if the diversion is not addressed to the Department's
			 satisfaction. The Department shall provide written acceptance of the proposed
			 replacement property. Failure to comply with the notification and request for
			 repayment will render the grantee ineligible for participation in this or any
			 other Department grant or cost-share programs. Should the grantee fail to repay
			 the grant funds plus interest, the Department reserves the right to avail
			 itself of judicial means of recovery.
h) The grantee is fully responsible for and
			 must assume all operation and maintenance costs and responsibilities associated
			 with an Ecosystem Vision Plan process, or Ecosystem Project or Ecosystem
			 Partnership Support Grant. The Department will not be responsible for any
			 operation and maintenance costs associated with an Ecosystem Vision Plan
			 process, Ecosystem Project, or Ecosystem Partnership Support function, unless
			 that project has been implemented upon Department property, and only with
			 approval prior to submission of the application for the project.
i) Any Conservation 2000 monies not expended
			 or legally obligated at the completion of an Ecosystem Vision Plan process or
			 Ecosystem Project, or during the term of an Ecosystem Partnership Support
			 Grant, must be returned to the Department for deposit in the Conservation 2000
			 Fund within 45 days. Any expenditure by the grantee that does not comply with
			 the grant will be disallowed and must be returned to the Department for deposit
			 in the Conservation 2000 Fund. Conservation 2000 Fund monies received as an
			 advance payment shall become part of the project principal and must be reported
			 as a part of expenditure documentation. In accordance with Section 10 of the
			 Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act [30
			 ILCS 705/10 ] all interest earned on funds held by the
			 grantee shall become part of the grant when earned. Any interest earned under
			 the grant and not expended as grant principal during the term of the grant
			 shall be returned to the Department.
j) No equipment, materials, supplies or real
			 property purchased as part of an Ecosystem Vision Plan, Ecosystem Project or
			 Ecosystem Partnership Support Grant shall be transferred or disposed of or used
			 in a manner other than specified by the grant without approval of the
			 Department.
k) If Department funds
			 are used, partially or solely, to install land management practices on a
			 property or acquire interests in real property, the grantee cannot develop or
			 use that property in any manner that is not compatible with sustaining the
			 practices or with perpetuating the ecological conditions that were preserved
			 through the acquisition, respectively, unless otherwise specified in the terms
			 and conditions of the grant. No changes or disturbance will be allowed by the
			 grantee on that portion of the property covered by an Ecosystem Project, unless
			 otherwise stipulated in the terms and conditions of the grant, without the
			 written approval of the Director. The terms and conditions of this grant shall
			 be binding on the grantee and any successors or assigns of interests in the
			 real property.
l) If the terms and
			 conditions allow the owner of any outstanding interest in real property
			 acquired through an Ecosystem Project to undertake capital improvements, remove
			 vegetation, disturb soil or similar activities with the grantee's approval, the
			 grantee shall consult with the Department at least 60 days in advance of
			 providing the owner with approval to proceed. The Department shall reply to the
			 grantee, in writing, pursuant to the proposed action of the owner.
m) Department representatives must have
			 reasonable access to an Ecosystem Project at any reasonable time during project
			 development and after completion to assess progress or to ensure continuing
			 compliance with program requirements.
n) Reports or informational, media, or
			 publicity materials associated with an Ecosystem Vision Plan, Ecosystem Project
			 or Ecosystem Partnership Support Grant must credit the Department and
			 Conservation 2000 Ecosystems Program, and must stipulate that the Department
			 has participated in the development of these materials through financial and
			 other support but does not necessarily endorse all of the views expressed in
			 the materials.
o) The grantee of an
			 Ecosystem Vision Plan, Ecosystem Project or Ecosystem Partnership Support Grant
			 must certify, in writing, that it will comply with all the terms and conditions
			 of the grant agreement for that grantee's specific project.