Section 20 ILCS 835/4 - [Effective 1/1/2025] Powers The Department of Natural Resources has the power:
(1) To make rules and regulations necessary to carry out its duties under this Act, including rules and regulations for the use, care, improvement, control and administration of lands under its jurisdiction, and to enforce the same.(2) To employ such custodians, keepers, clerks, assistants, laborers and subordinates as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.(3) To lay out, construct and maintain all needful roads, parking areas, paths or trails, bridges, and docks, camp or lodge sites, picnic areas, beach houses, lodges and cabins and any other structures and improvements necessary and appropriate in any state park or easement thereto; and to provide water supplies, heat and light, and sanitary facilities for the public and living quarters for the custodians and keepers of state parks.(4) To replant any devastated native plant areas of any State park or increase or supplement the same when necessary with plant material indigenous to such park.(5) To cooperate with the United States government and with other states in matters relating to the care, improvement, control and administration of national or interstate parks.(6) To cooperate and contract with any agency, organization or individual in a manner consistent with the purposes of this Act and the powers granted the Department herein.(7) To accept and administer gifts, grants and legacies of money, securities or property to be used by the Department of Natural Resources for the purposes of this Act and according to the tenor of such gift, grant or legacy.(8) To enter into leases that allow for the creation, operation, or maintenance of a commercial solar energy system, as defined in Section 10-720 of the Property Tax Code, or a clean energy project, as defined in the Department of Natural Resources (Conservation) Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. If practical, the Department shall require that any land or property over which the Department has jurisdiction that is used for the purpose of creating, operating, or maintaining a commercial solar energy system shall have implemented on it and maintained management practices that would qualify the land or property as a beneficial habitat under the Pollinator-Friendly Solar Site Act. The Department shall require that any lease must include a signed project labor agreement for the length of the lease term. A project labor agreement entered into under this Section shall be entered into with the local building and construction trades council having geographic jurisdiction over the project. The Department shall prioritize commercial solar energy system sites based on their suitability and economic feasibility for solar use. The Department shall then prioritize commercial solar energy system sites with a significant history of disturbance, such as former strip mines or previously developed sites. In making a determination for the suitability of a site, the Department may consider any land use that is lost from the installation of a commercial solar energy system.Amended by P.A. 103-0865,§ 3-15, eff. 1/1/2025.P.A. 89-445, eff. 2/7/1996.This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.