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
|
|
|
|
As the fall election season approaches, new measures are going on the ballot around the country. Below are some of the recently added measures the Conservation Campaign is working to pass, as well as updates on our continuing efforts to press for land conservation funding in the statehouses.
|
 Initiative to save California's beleaguered state parks
Voters in California will have the opportunity in November to create a reliable and adequate source of funding for state parks and wildlife in November. Once the jewel of California, the 278-park system is in peril. Twice in the past two years, state parks were at the brink of being shut down and last year 150 parks were closed part time or had services deeply cut. With no reliable source of funding, the system has accumulated a backlog of more than a billion dollars in maintenance and repairs.
Passage of the State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act will give California vehicles free day-use admission to state parks in exchange for a new $18 vehicle license fee, which will be specifically dedicated to state parks and wildlife conservation. To support or get involved in the campaign, go to Yes for State Parks. |
by Ben Eriksen | Two more Mass towns to vote on Community Preservation Act
At their spring town meetings, Gosnold and Middleborough sent Community Preservation Act measures to the fall ballot. If these measures pass, it will bring to 145 the number of Massachusetts municipalities adopting the highly effective act, which dedicates a local property tax surcharge and a state match to land conservation, recreation, historic preservation and affordable housing. |
Bond for Florida beachfront access a recession bargain
A $5 million bond measure will create access to the condominium-lined beach in in Ormond Beach, which lacks a beachfront park and public parking. The Trust for Public Land is working with the city to acquire the property for $6 million, less than a fifth of its 2007 appraised value of $32 million. |
Keeping up the pressure to strengthen Massachusetts CPA
With the legislative session ending July 31, advocates continue to meet weekly with legislators and leadership on Beacon Hill to pass SB 90, An Act to Sustain Community Preservation. The bill guarantees a 75 percent state match for locally generated funds for land conservation, historic preservation, recreation and affordable housing. The match began at 100 percent but dropped to 31 percent this year. The legislation will also allow communities to use CPA funding to upgrade existing outdoor recreational facilities. For more information, go to the Community Preservation Coalition website.
|
 NY land acquisition moratorium reversed but funds are cut
New York State's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) was established in 1994 to provide a stable funding source for land conservation, parks and other environmental needs in good times and bad. But with the budget two months overdue, Governor Paterson pressured the legislature to cut appropriations to the fund from $212 to $134 million, a disproportionate 37 percent from the previous year, in exchange for $11 million to reopen 55 state parks and historic sites. The legislature overturned the governor's moratorium on acquiring new land, however, and restored $17 million for land conservation to keep the program alive. They also held the line against using the EPF for state park operations and payments in lieu of taxes, a dangerous precedent that would have eventually drained the fund. |
|
Double your conservation dollars!
Our board will match your online donation dollar for dollar. We need your gift today to defend and expand funding for conservation.
|
|
|
