June 27, 2005
Conservation crunch | Maine's land trusts struggle to conserve land in the face of dwindling state money and a competitive fundraising environment
By Joseph Thompson
This spring, when Wal-Mart launched a $35 million program to conserve the same amount of land ˆ acre for acre ˆ as it has developed over the years, one of the first recipients of the retailer's money was the Downeast Lakes Land Trust in Washington County. Since 2003, the trust has been working to raise $30 million to purchase 27,000 acres of forestland and lakefront property, along with a conservation easement on another 312,000 acres. Wal-Mart's $6 million gift brought that effort tantalizingly close to the finish line. "It couldn't have come at a better time," said Steve Keith, executive director of the trust. "Four weeks ago we were still trying to raise $12 million."
That doesn't mean other land trusts are swimming in green, however. With only one Wal-Mart and approximately 1,500 land trusts across the nation ˆ 100 of which are in Maine ˆ land trusts have to turn to a variety of funding sources such as private foundations, membership drives and fundraising events. And in each of those areas, land trusts are starting to feel the pinch. "The competition is tremendous because there are many of us who all have very important projects," said Sue Telfeian, executive director of Loon Echo Land Trust in Bridgton, which oversees more than 3,076 acres of land around the northern part of Sebago Lake "We're all going after those same dollars."
That competition is only getting more intense, say land trust directors, thanks to rising development pressure and the ongoing turnover of former forestlands. For that reason, Maine's land trusts are especially reliant on the state for assistance ˆ namely, the Land for Maine's Future program, which was created by the Maine Legislature in 1987 to help fund regional and local conservation efforts with state bond money. Since then, voters have approved $85 million for LMF, but the state has not provided the program with new funds since 1999, and it's now out of money to support new initiatives.
For trusts like Down East Lakes or Loon Echo, losing LMF would make funding conservation projects even more difficult. The Legislature has proposed a bond package that could include up to $45 million for LMF, but that package will be debated during a special legislative session later this year. And partisan wrangling last year scuttled efforts to put any bonds in front of voters.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of that scenario, a group of land trusts, chambers of commerce, local businesses and citizens calling themselves the Maine Land Bond Coalition are lobbying legislators to include money for LMF as part of a bond package this year. If that happens, the group then hopes to convince voters that funding conservation makes sense, especially to support Maine's tourism-related economy. "There's quite an economic impact to these [conservation] programs," said Bruce Kidman, spokesman for the Maine Land Bond Coalition and director of communications and government relations for the Maine chapter of the Nature Conservancy. "I think of it as securing an infrastructure of a different kind than most people think of."
Improving the village
Land trusts were originally created in the 18th century as "village improvement societies" in New England, but the concept of taking care of community land soon began encompassing conservation goals far beyond cleaning the local cemetery and planting trees. In 1950, there were approximately 50 trusts in the United States. By 1970, the number had grown to 300. Today, there are five times that many.
Maine land trusts fall into two major categories: local efforts that preserve a handful of acres in and around a certain town or region, and eight statewide trusts, such as the Maine chapter of the Nature Conservancy, that target huge swaths of forestland for conservation and sustainable harvesting. Most of the various trusts formed in the past 30 years were created in response to development pressures, according to land trust directors. Residents saw land being bought up, crossed with roads and developed for residential and commercial purposes. Land along rivers and lakes was changing hands, denying the public access to the water. Timber and paper companies were selling forestland, threatening both traditional access to those lands as well as the means to ensure sustainable forestry practices.
Members of the Legislature also saw these trends, and reacted in 1987 by creating the Land for Maine's Future Program. That year, Mainers voted to approve a $35 million dollar bond ˆ at the time, the largest non-transportation bond to be approved in Maine's history ˆ to fund the program. Then in 1999, voters approved another $50 million land bond.
The LMF program owns no land itself, but partners with trusts and government agencies across the state to protect areas from development either by purchasing the land outright or through enacting conservation easements that prevent the land from being subdivided and developed, but still allow for sustainable timber harvesting or farming. Since its formation, the program has helped groups acquire 139,000 acres and has protected
an additional 53,000 acres through easements. Some notable projects funded by LMF include the Aroostook Valley Rail-Trail, which connects several "rail-to-trail" networks popular among backpackers and hikers, and Ferry Beach State Park in Saco.
"The question is, 'How do you assess the needs of an area and make strategic investments in the same way that a business would?'" said LMF Director Tim Glidden of the program's funding strategy. "We have to increase return on a sound public investment."
Besides providing much-needed cash, land trusts say LMF acts as a kind of seal of approval that can make it easier to convince large donors to open their wallets. "Getting money from Land for Maine's Future helps with fundraising quite a bit," said Keith of Downeast Lakes Land Trust. "It makes it easier to raise money from foundations and corporations."
In fact, LMF bonds require trusts to match every public dollar with 50 cents of private money, but since 2000 the program has performed much better than that. Land trusts have matched each LMF dollar with $2.40 raised from a variety of private and federal sources, according to Glidden.
A dwindling account
Since 1999, however, the state has not infused the Land for Maine's Future program with fresh funding. In 2004, Gov. John Baldacci's bond package, which included $60 million for LMF, failed to make it onto the state ballot. By September of that year, LMF was unable to accept new conservation proposals from land trusts.
And LMF staffers say that dwindling account might mean permanent lost opportunities. "If we don't have money [and] the landowner is in a position where they need to be selling their land, the next alternative may be a developer," said Glidden. "And if we get the money a couple of years down the road, the opportunity won't be there because there will be a house there."
Earlier this year, however, Baldacci introduced a $197 million bond package that included $50 million for LMF. Subsequently, the Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry committee unanimously recommended $45 million for the LMF program.
Although the Legislature has yet to debate a final dollar amount for the overall package, Patrick McGowan, commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation, is optimistic about a land bond making it to the ballot this year ˆ and about its chances for approval by voters. "If the Legislature will give the public a chance to vote on the bond, [the public] is going to buy it," said McGowan. "The governor has linked land conservation and keeping Maine a beautiful place to live and work as part of his plan for the economic future."
That argument is similar to the pitch of the Maine Land Bond Coalition, which is writing letters to legislators and op-ed pieces that focus on the economic boost that conservation land can provide to surrounding areas. MLBC's Bruce Kidman cited the burgeoning hospitality industry in Washburn, a town of 1,600 in Aroostook County, after LMF in the 90s helped purchase the nearby Aroostook Valley Rail-Trail and a right-of-way crossing it. Now, a Washburn B&B is full summer and winter, and a local snowmobile repair shop has built cabins to serve visiting snowmobilers, among other changes.
The MLBC argues that in a state like Maine, made up of a vast land area but with very few big businesses, it's even more important to support those kinds of investments ˆ huge grants from Wal-Mart notwithstanding. Jake Maier, an MLBC member and Brewer-based consultant who helps smaller woodlot owners create forestry management plans, said he and other MLBC business members can't deliver large cash donations such as Wal-Mart's, so they're doing what they can for conservation by supporting Land for Maine's Future. "I would love to be able to give money," said Maier, "but I'm pretty poor."
That doesn't mean other land trusts are swimming in green, however. With only one Wal-Mart and approximately 1,500 land trusts across the nation ˆ 100 of which are in Maine ˆ land trusts have to turn to a variety of funding sources such as private foundations, membership drives and fundraising events. And in each of those areas, land trusts are starting to feel the pinch. "The competition is tremendous because there are many of us who all have very important projects," said Sue Telfeian, executive director of Loon Echo Land Trust in Bridgton, which oversees more than 3,076 acres of land around the northern part of Sebago Lake "We're all going after those same dollars."
That competition is only getting more intense, say land trust directors, thanks to rising development pressure and the ongoing turnover of former forestlands. For that reason, Maine's land trusts are especially reliant on the state for assistance ˆ namely, the Land for Maine's Future program, which was created by the Maine Legislature in 1987 to help fund regional and local conservation efforts with state bond money. Since then, voters have approved $85 million for LMF, but the state has not provided the program with new funds since 1999, and it's now out of money to support new initiatives.
For trusts like Down East Lakes or Loon Echo, losing LMF would make funding conservation projects even more difficult. The Legislature has proposed a bond package that could include up to $45 million for LMF, but that package will be debated during a special legislative session later this year. And partisan wrangling last year scuttled efforts to put any bonds in front of voters.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of that scenario, a group of land trusts, chambers of commerce, local businesses and citizens calling themselves the Maine Land Bond Coalition are lobbying legislators to include money for LMF as part of a bond package this year. If that happens, the group then hopes to convince voters that funding conservation makes sense, especially to support Maine's tourism-related economy. "There's quite an economic impact to these [conservation] programs," said Bruce Kidman, spokesman for the Maine Land Bond Coalition and director of communications and government relations for the Maine chapter of the Nature Conservancy. "I think of it as securing an infrastructure of a different kind than most people think of."
Improving the village
Land trusts were originally created in the 18th century as "village improvement societies" in New England, but the concept of taking care of community land soon began encompassing conservation goals far beyond cleaning the local cemetery and planting trees. In 1950, there were approximately 50 trusts in the United States. By 1970, the number had grown to 300. Today, there are five times that many.
Maine land trusts fall into two major categories: local efforts that preserve a handful of acres in and around a certain town or region, and eight statewide trusts, such as the Maine chapter of the Nature Conservancy, that target huge swaths of forestland for conservation and sustainable harvesting. Most of the various trusts formed in the past 30 years were created in response to development pressures, according to land trust directors. Residents saw land being bought up, crossed with roads and developed for residential and commercial purposes. Land along rivers and lakes was changing hands, denying the public access to the water. Timber and paper companies were selling forestland, threatening both traditional access to those lands as well as the means to ensure sustainable forestry practices.
Members of the Legislature also saw these trends, and reacted in 1987 by creating the Land for Maine's Future Program. That year, Mainers voted to approve a $35 million dollar bond ˆ at the time, the largest non-transportation bond to be approved in Maine's history ˆ to fund the program. Then in 1999, voters approved another $50 million land bond.
The LMF program owns no land itself, but partners with trusts and government agencies across the state to protect areas from development either by purchasing the land outright or through enacting conservation easements that prevent the land from being subdivided and developed, but still allow for sustainable timber harvesting or farming. Since its formation, the program has helped groups acquire 139,000 acres and has protected
an additional 53,000 acres through easements. Some notable projects funded by LMF include the Aroostook Valley Rail-Trail, which connects several "rail-to-trail" networks popular among backpackers and hikers, and Ferry Beach State Park in Saco.
"The question is, 'How do you assess the needs of an area and make strategic investments in the same way that a business would?'" said LMF Director Tim Glidden of the program's funding strategy. "We have to increase return on a sound public investment."
Besides providing much-needed cash, land trusts say LMF acts as a kind of seal of approval that can make it easier to convince large donors to open their wallets. "Getting money from Land for Maine's Future helps with fundraising quite a bit," said Keith of Downeast Lakes Land Trust. "It makes it easier to raise money from foundations and corporations."
In fact, LMF bonds require trusts to match every public dollar with 50 cents of private money, but since 2000 the program has performed much better than that. Land trusts have matched each LMF dollar with $2.40 raised from a variety of private and federal sources, according to Glidden.
A dwindling account
Since 1999, however, the state has not infused the Land for Maine's Future program with fresh funding. In 2004, Gov. John Baldacci's bond package, which included $60 million for LMF, failed to make it onto the state ballot. By September of that year, LMF was unable to accept new conservation proposals from land trusts.
And LMF staffers say that dwindling account might mean permanent lost opportunities. "If we don't have money [and] the landowner is in a position where they need to be selling their land, the next alternative may be a developer," said Glidden. "And if we get the money a couple of years down the road, the opportunity won't be there because there will be a house there."
Earlier this year, however, Baldacci introduced a $197 million bond package that included $50 million for LMF. Subsequently, the Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry committee unanimously recommended $45 million for the LMF program.
Although the Legislature has yet to debate a final dollar amount for the overall package, Patrick McGowan, commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation, is optimistic about a land bond making it to the ballot this year ˆ and about its chances for approval by voters. "If the Legislature will give the public a chance to vote on the bond, [the public] is going to buy it," said McGowan. "The governor has linked land conservation and keeping Maine a beautiful place to live and work as part of his plan for the economic future."
That argument is similar to the pitch of the Maine Land Bond Coalition, which is writing letters to legislators and op-ed pieces that focus on the economic boost that conservation land can provide to surrounding areas. MLBC's Bruce Kidman cited the burgeoning hospitality industry in Washburn, a town of 1,600 in Aroostook County, after LMF in the 90s helped purchase the nearby Aroostook Valley Rail-Trail and a right-of-way crossing it. Now, a Washburn B&B is full summer and winter, and a local snowmobile repair shop has built cabins to serve visiting snowmobilers, among other changes.
The MLBC argues that in a state like Maine, made up of a vast land area but with very few big businesses, it's even more important to support those kinds of investments ˆ huge grants from Wal-Mart notwithstanding. Jake Maier, an MLBC member and Brewer-based consultant who helps smaller woodlot owners create forestry management plans, said he and other MLBC business members can't deliver large cash donations such as Wal-Mart's, so they're doing what they can for conservation by supporting Land for Maine's Future. "I would love to be able to give money," said Maier, "but I'm pretty poor."
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