After federal protections for wetlands were scaled back, Illinois state leaders took action. Now, the state is the first to recognize rewilding as a conservation effort.
The Illinois Rewilding Law went into effect at the beginning of 2026, according to Governing.
Illinois Rep. Anna Moeller said the law encourages the state's natural resources department to look for ways to restore land to its natural state.
With the new law in place, leaders said wetland protections are a top priority.
Per Governing, the move came after several federal changes. The U.S. Supreme Court reduced federal wetland protections in Sackett v. EPA in 2023.
Two years later, the Environmental Protection Agency made changes to its Waters of the United States rule that removed more protections.
That's especially concerning for a state like Illinois that has 563,000 acres of unprotected wetlands, according to a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study cited by Governing.
Lindsay Keeney, the Illinois Environmental Council conservation director, called the restoration of wetlands one of the most cost-effective strategies to prevent floods.
"When we see removal of wetlands and native prairies, that's where we see incredible flood damage, stormwater runoff and backup and a lot of damage to homes and human life and major flood events," Keeney told the publication.
Keeney explained that the changing climate has caused flooding to happen more often. Human activities, like burning coal, gas, and oil, contribute to rising global temperatures, which lead to more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, according to NASA.
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$200 or more 💰 A study published in the Journal of Environmental Management found that those warmer temperatures can change the biogeochemistry of wetlands and make them unable to provide important services like natural water purification.
According to the BBC, the water that flows out of a wetland is cleaner than it was before because bacteria will cling to plants and rocks and consume water pollutants.
Illinois state legislators are now trying to pass the Wetlands Protection Act, which would give the Department of Natural Resources authority over wetland permits on private land before construction.
Paul Botts, the president and executive director of the Wetland Initiative, said developers who want to remove wetlands would have to donate to a mitigation bank for restoration work.
"The state bill is not going any further than what was suddenly yanked away," Botts told Governing. "It's simply bringing it back."
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