Milan Bottoms - Natural Land Institute

In July of 2008, the Natural Land Institute with assistance from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Grand Victoria Foundation and guidance from US Fish & Wildlife Service and Illinois Department of Natural Resources, purchased 92 acres of land in Milan Bottoms which has access from Illinois Highway 92 to the backwaters of the Mississippi River.

The River Bend Wildland Trust has a lease to manage the property, including overseeing implementation of the forest management plan and assisting in developing a plan to put in shallow water wetland where frequently flooded crop land has existed. Implementation of the shallow water wetland was financed through Farm Service Agency with additional financial assistance from Waterfowl USA and US Fish and Wildlife Service.