DONATE TODAY
Every $1 you contribute to TCC helps generate $2,000 in new public funding for conservation
|
Grassroots
CAMPAIGN TOOLKIT
Our online portal of campaign tools
helps you win public funds for conservation
|
|
|
|
Photo by t.j. blackwell | Gov. Richardson creates a green legacy for New Mexico
In March, Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law New Mexico's first-ever permanent mechanism for funding conservation, the Natural Heritage Conservation Act.
The Trust for Public Land and other conservation groups laid the groundwork for the law with a feasibility study and a survey showing broad public support for financing conservation in the state. This persuaded the governor, in his final year of office, to champion the creation and passage of the act. TPL and the Conservation Campaign brought in a skilled lobbyist, partnering with Conservation Voters New Mexico, to help get the bill through the legislature.
To begin the program, Gov. Richardson allocated $5 million, and conservationists will look to add additional money when the economy improves. Establishing the fund will also attract money from local and private sources, including about $20 million annually in federal grants for land and water conservation projects for which the state now becomes eligible.
|
Grandview Farm, Dighton | Thumbs up for conservation funding in Dighton, Mass
Even amid concerns about taxes and the economy, residents of Dighton stood up for preserving their quality of life by adopting the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in April. Dighton joins its neighbors Seekonk and Rehoboth, which adopted the CPA last year, in approving a small property tax surcharge to generate dedicated local conservation funding matched by state dollars. The still largely rural town, in southeastern Massachusetts, is within commuting distance of Providence and Boston and under increasing development pressure. Less than 1% of Dighton's open space is permanently protected -- the least of any town in the state, according to a recent report by Mass Audubon. The CPA funding can be used to conserve open space and farmland, preserve historic sites and create recreation and affordable housing.
|
Two Mass towns to vote in May on Community Preservation
On May 1, voters in Sunderland, a small agricultural community in the Connecticut River Valley, will decide whether to adopt the Community Preservation Act (CPA) to fund land conservation, historic preservation, affordable Connecticut River, Sunderland | housing and recreation. The valley has some of the most fertile farmland in the world, but development spilling over from the university town of Amherst is putting Sunderland at risk of losing its rural character and economic base. In adopting the CPA with the maximum 3% property tax surcharge, the town would be eligible for state matching funds of 100%.
North of Boston on the scenic Cape Ann peninsula, Manchester-by-the-Sea is voting May 18 on increasing its CPA surcharge, originally approved in 2005, from .5 to 1.5%, to generate enough funding to protect the town's watershed and add recreational fields.
|
Double the impact of your donation
Our board will match your online donation dollar for dollar. Help defend and expand funding for conservation with your gift today.
| |
|
