MEMO: CONSERVATION GRANTS AWARDED IN ILLINOIS

Friends of the Cache River have received three grants for natural resource protection projects under the Illinois Conservation 2000 program.

The largest grant was $300,500 for seedling purchases to plant 1,150 acres of conservation reserve program lands throughout Johnson and Pulaski counties in Southern Illinois. The group also received a $60,000 grant for channel restoration in the upper Cache River, near Vienna in Johnson County, and $15,000 to provide for a public access viewing platform about three miles east of Ullin, Ill., in Pulaski County.

Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan announced the grants recently.