Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

525 ILCS 30/2

(525 ILCS 30/2) (from Ch. 105, par. 702)

Sec. 2.

All areas within the State except those that are expressly
designated by law for preservation and protection in their natural condition
are liable to be altered by human activity.  Natural lands and waters together
with the plants and animals living thereon in natural communities are a
part of the heritage of the people.  They are of value for scientific research,
for teaching, as reservoirs of natural materials not all of the potential
uses of which are now known, as habitats for rare and vanishing species,
as places of historic and natural interest and scenic beauty and as living
museums of the native landscape wherein one may envision and experience
primeval conditions in a wilderness-like environment.  They also contribute
generally to the public health and welfare and the environmental quality of the State.

It is therefore the public policy of the State of Illinois to secure for
the people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring
resource of natural areas, including the elements of natural diversity present
in the State, by establishing a system of nature preserves, protecting nature
preserves and gathering and disseminating information regarding them, providing
for appropriate use of nature preserves that will not damage them, establishing
and maintaining a register of natural areas and buffer areas, providing
certain forms of protection and control of registered natural areas and
registered buffer areas and otherwise encouraging and assisting in the preservation
of natural areas and features.

(Source: P.A. 85-150.)