A Clear Victory for Land Conservation: Americans Approve $2.4
Billion in New Open Space Funding
www.LandVote.org Documents
Americans' Support for Land Conservation WASHINGTON - PRNewswire - Nov. 4
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a presidential election
that revealed broad political polarization, voters in states and
communities nationwide came together to dedicate new public funds for
conservation. In Tuesday's elections, voters in 111 communities in 25
states passed ballot measures to create $11 billion in new public funding,
including $2.4 billion for protecting land for parks and open space, according
to the Trust for Public Land (TPL).
Overall, 111 of 147 local and state measures
nationwide were successful -- a rate of passage of 76 percent.
This is consistent with November 2003, when 79 percent of open space ballot
measures were successful nationwide. Since 1998, 935 out of 1,215 conservation
ballot measures have passed in 44 states, raising close to $25 billion in
funding for land conservation -- a passage rate of approximately 77
percent.
"American voters are remarkably consistent in approving three out of
every four funding measures for land conservation, both before 9/11 and after,
whether in recession or recovery," said Will Rogers, TPL president. "The
mandate is clear -- land conservation is a high priority for Americans."
Voter support for land conservation came from Republican and
Democratic strongholds alike.
Support Support Support State Jurisdiction Bush Kerry
Conservation Funding Florida Collier 65% 73%
Montana Gallatin 56% 63% Virginia Chesterfield 63%
76% California Los Angeles 63%
76% Rhode Island Statewide 59% 71% Colorado Boulder 69% 58% (they are concentrating on buying out Montana and
California)
"Voters across the political spectrum have again voiced strong
support for protection of natural lands, clean water and safe parks," said
Ernest Cook, TPL director of Conservation Finance. "Voter reaction to the
pressures of uncontrolled growth and sprawl is bipartisan."
States with the most local conservation measures on the
ballot were those offering matching funds to local governments, especially
Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey. These four states
alone accounted for over half the total number of ballot measures for
conservation funding in the country.
# of Conservation State Funding Measures Florida 12
Massachusetts 11 Michigan 16 New Jersey 43 Total 82
The results of Tuesday's votes, along with results of all 2004
conservation funding measures, will be published as a report in early 2005.
Results from ballot measures going back to 1998 are also available on the
LandVote database at http://www.landvote.org/.
A poll released in April 2004 by TPL and The Nature Conservancy
demonstrated overwhelming public support for conservation ballot measures --
65 percent of the nation's voters indicate support for increasing taxes
to fund state and local government programs to purchase land to "protect water quality, natural areas, lakes rivers or
beaches, neighborhood parks and wildlife habitat" including a solid majorities
of Democrats (76%), Independents (65%) and Republican voters (57%). Results for
November 2004 conservation ballot measures reflected these poll
findings.
A complete list of results from local and state balloting on
conservation and parks is available on-line today from LandVote --
http://www.landvote.org/. Significant measures in Beaufort County, South
Carolina ($12 million), and San Diego County, California ($850 million), are
too close to call at this time. The largest successful measures in each region
of the country are:
Location $$$ for Open Space/Parks % in Favor % Against NEW
ENGLAND Rhode Island statewide $70 million 71 29 Barnstable, MA $44 million 78
22 MID-ATLANTIC Hunterdon County, NJ $105.5 million 76 24 Brookhaven, NY $100
million 72 28 Fairfax County, VA $75 million 70 30 SOUTHEAST Charleston County,
SC $221.5 million 59 41 Alachua County, FL $105 million 51 49 Gwinnett County,
GA $85.5 million 65 35 ROCKY MOUNTAIN Adams County, CO $173 million 54 46
Boulder County, CO $75.6 million 58 42 Gallatin County, MT $10 million 63 37
WEST Los Angeles, CA $100 million 76 24 Sacramento, CA $48 million 75 25
Earlier in 2004, 42 ballot measures for land conservation were
approved by voters in 22 states raising $821 million for conservation-related
purposes. Added to the November results, the total local and state open space
funding created at the ballot box in 2004 is now approximately $3.2
billion.
Cook notes, "State legislatures, county commissions and city
councils are continuing to give high priority to land conservation, even in
tough economic times. This is an acknowledgment that such funds are an
investment in the future."
Most measures tabulated by LandVote are property tax increases or
general obligation bonds. Bonds allow communities to borrow money in order to
save land now, paying off the debt over the next 20 or 30 years. Dollar amounts
of each measure are either the total amount of the bond, or in the case of a
new tax, the total revenue created over the lifetime of the levy (usually 10 to
20 years). When a ballot measure contains no sunset provision, LandVote
estimates its revenue total based on a 20-year duration.
The Trust for Public Land, established in 1972, is the only national
nonprofit working exclusively to protect land for human enjoyment and well-
being. Through LandVote, TPL supports public funding for parks and other
protected lands across the United States. Visit TPL on the web at
http://www.tpl.org/ and http://www.landvote.org/
The Trust
for Public Land
Web site:
http://www.tpl.org/