The Virginian-Pilot
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Conservation program to go unfunded

By SCOTT HARPER
May 11, 2001

One of the big losers in the state budget standoff is land conservation. All $6.2 million in state money for buying sensitive forest and farmland next year is being cut, with grant applications for those funds suspended indefinitely.

Called ``devastating'' and ``totally frustrating'' by two program managers, the environmental cut is part of Gov. Jim Gilmore's plan to reduce state spending to continue phasing out the car tax in a soft economy.

It comes less than a year after Gilmore signed a commitment to preserve 20 percent of all lands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 2010, or about 500,000 more acres in Virginia -- a goal that a recent study says will require more state funding, not less.

It also comes in the wake of a new bipartisan poll, released Wednesday, that found land conservation a more important issue to Virginia voters than tax cuts, and only slightly less important than education and reducing crime.

The telephone poll of 750 registered voters, conducted by Republican and Democratic research firms in late April, was paid for by three environmental groups that have pushed state leaders for years to preserve more open space.

The groups -- The Nature Conservancy, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Trust for Public Land -- said the results underscore strong public sympathies for environmental programs that politicians should heed.

``It seems abundantly clear that people are saying, `We want you to fund this,' '' said Michael Lipford, executive director of The Nature Conservancy's Virginia chapter. ``Unfortunately, right now we have nothing'' for land conservation.

The advocacy groups want Virginia to establish a permanent conservation fund, just as six other states on the East Coast have done. It would be fueled each year by $40 million in state recordation taxes -- those monies paid by land and home buyers for real estate transfers.

A state legislative commission recommended such a program in December. But the idea died during this year's budget-cutting debate.

According to the poll, 82 percent of respondents either strongly supported or somewhat supported the $40-million-a-year allotment.

``There's no question we'd like more money for land conservation,'' said David Brickley, Gilmore's appointed director of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. ``But you have to play the cards you're dealt.''

Virginia has never been comfortable spending public money to buy pristine land for preservation and parks. A firm proponent of private property rights, Virginia finished near the bottom of a recent survey of Atlantic coastal states and their spending habits on land conservation.

Florida spends the most, about $300 million a year, for open space, according to the survey distributed by The Nature Conservancy. Small states Delaware and Connecticut spend more than Virginia, as do North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

In 1999, Virginia took two strides to change the trend. State lawmakers established the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, to be seeded each year by the General Assembly. The foundation received $1.75 million its first year and commitments for millions more through 2002.

After distributing $3.9 million last year to preserve battlefields, forests, farms and green spaces, Gilmore this year proposed withdrawing all remaining money -- about $6.2 million -- to speed car-tax relief.

Lawmakers two years ago also passed new tax credits to encourage land owners to not develop their properties.

The credits proved so successful that the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, which promotes so-called conservation easements, experienced record years in 1999 and 2000. Last year alone, the foundation shelved 28,000 acres, said executive director Tamara Vance.

However, Vance said she worries her program, also hit by budget cuts, will not be able to keep pace with conservation applications. The foundation is expected to lose about one-third of its management monies.

``I just hope we don't have to turn anyone away,'' she said. ``That would really be disappointing, given the momentum we've seen of late.''

Under the ``Chesapeake 2000'' agreement signed last summer, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia pledged to preserve 20 percent of all lands within the watershed by 2010. By doing so, the partners hope to control growth and the runoff pollution that accompanies development.

A subsequent study by the Trust for Public Land determined that the cleanup partners would need to preserve an extra 1.1 million acres to meet the goal. Half would come from Virginia.

``It's going to be difficult to meet,'' said Brickley, state director of conservation and recreation.

Financial help may be coming from the federal government. The Bush administration wants to fully finance the national Land and Water Conservation Fund, made up of tens of millions of dollars from oil and gas leases.

But the U.S. government has not returned all of the money to the states, as originally intended, instead keeping some in reserve or directing it elsewhere.

President Bush wants to change that. If approved, Virginia could receive up to $8.5 million more next year, Brickley said.However, to be eligible, states must match a portion of the federal allotment. Environmentalists worry that Gilmore, in cutting all money from the state conservation fund, might cost Virginia millions more in federal aid.