The head of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will depart at the end of June and be succeeded by an interim director who has worked at the department for more than a decade, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office said Friday.

Pritzker appointed IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie in 2023, at the start of his second term. Before leading the agency, she served as its deputy director and was previously a member of the Illinois House.

“Serving as director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has been the honor of a lifetime,” Phelps Finnie said in a statement that also thanked Pritzker. “I think Americans understand today, perhaps more than ever, the importance of protecting and conserving precious natural resources and outdoor spaces for future generations.” 

Neither Phelps Finnie nor representatives with the governor’s office said why she was stepping down.

Renee Snow, who serves as the department’s general counsel, is expected to take over on an interim basis in July. She started at the department in 2014, according to the governor’s announcement.

The role includes overseeing legislative affairs, land management and mines, among other responsibilities, according to IDNR.

The conservation and natural resources management department, like many other parts of Illinois government, has come into conflict with President Donald Trump’s administration in recent years — perhaps most notably related to an infrastructure project to build defenses against invasive carp at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam on the Des Plaines River in Joliet.

Illinois, Michigan and the federal government have for decades tried to stop the invasive fish, which include silver and bighead carp, as they pose threats to existing ecosystems and industries around the Great Lakes. Mistrust between Pritzker and Trump has previously delayed the construction of that project.

Part of Snow’s work as general counsel included initiatives at Brandon Road, according to the governor’s press release. She has also worked on a land transfer with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in which the state returned some stolen land. 

Snow is a longtime attorney who, prior to joining the Department of Natural Resources, worked in the office of the attorney general and as an assistant state’s attorney in Sangamon and Effingham counties, according to a LinkedIn profile.

On the docket for new IDNR leadership could be the implementation of a first-in-the-nation law to officially recognize the conservation tactic of “rewilding” land. The Tribune also recently published released a monthslong investigation into abandoned, unplugged oil and gas wells — holes left behind for IDNR to close. 

Phelps Finnie, who is from southern Illinois, previously served in the General Assembly after being appointed to replace her cousin, Brandon Phelps, but she lost her bid to keep the seat to Republican Patrick Windhorst in 2018.

A spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources didn’t immediately return a request for comment from Phelps Finnie and Snow.