Still, some states have no significant conservation
funding programs. And even in states and communities with established funding programs, decision makers may be reluctant to move forward with conservation projects. They may hope that land values will fall
further, giving them more conservation for their dollar.
Or they may simply be wary of spending money on
anything in an environment of government deficits
and fiscal restraint.
THE PROSPECTS FOR FEDERAL FUNDING
“There is an ocean of conservation need, and there is
never more than a puddle of money,” says Alan Front,
TPL senior vice president of federal affairs. Conservation
LOCAL FUNDING STRONG FOR 2008
November 2008 was a terrible time to ask voters
for money. The stock and real estate markets were
in freefall, banks were closing,
and unemployment was on the
rise. Yet on Election Day, voters
nationwide approved 63 out of
89 conservation finance measures on state and local ballots—
a higher approval rate than in
relatively flush 2007.
In all, Americans approved
over $8.4 billion in conserva-
tion spending in 2008—including the largest con-
servation measure ever, Minnesota’s $5.5 billion
Clean Water, Land, and Legacy constitutional
amendment. Many of these taxes and bonds
were passed with help from TPL’s Conservation
Finance service and from a TPL affiliate, the
Conservation Campaign.
These and other facts about last year’s conservation ballot measures can be found in LandVote
2008—published by TPL’s Center for Conservation
Finance and downloadable from www.tpl.org—or
at www.landvote.org, TPL’s online database of
conservation funding measures since 1988. For
information about TPL’s Conservation Finance
service, go to www.tpl.org/services.
MICHAEL WRAY
Recently, TPL was able to purchase land in New Smyrna Beach, Florida,
for 70 percent of the 2005 asking price. Once slated for condominiums,
the land will be a city park.
receives less than one-tenth of one percent of federal
spending, the vast majority of which goes to entitlement
programs, interest on debt, and defense. “The money that
goes to protect farmland or national parks or working
forests is a statistical crumb,” Front says.
In a budget that is expected to run a $1 trillion
deficit this year, increasing conservation from $3 billion
to $4 billion would have a negligible effect on overall
spending. Yet an extra $1 billion could make the difference in saving specific wildlife areas, scenic vistas, or
parks for people. “Individual places have great resonance for people,” Front points out. “And when people
mobilize to protect those places, that’s what guides
spending, in good times and bad.”
Many members of Congress are responsive to their
constituencies when they advocate for specific places.
“There is no natural limit or artificial cap to what a
Congress or a White House can invest in conservation,”
says Front. “It comes down to how much of a priority they
see it as being for the people those landscapes serve.”
The new administration and Congress will be taking a
fresh look at federal conservation funding through a variety of programs. President Obama has signaled a strong
commitment to the environment and conservation, and
key administration figures like Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar have been longtime champions of protecting our
nation’s irreplaceable natural and cultural landscapes.
TPL and a coalition of 30 other environmental groups
have offered a broad array of policy recommendations,
