Correction: This story was revised at 1:15 p.m. March 3, 2011, to state that in New Hampshire, money for land conservation comes from a fee on real estate transactions.

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Dozens of groups from across the state are expected to apply for some of the $9.7 million becoming available for land conservation projects through the Land for Maine’s Future Program.

The money, approved by 60 percent of the voters in November, will be used to help preserve farms, forests, working waterfronts and recreation areas.

For Maine’s conservation groups, volunteer trail committees and sophisticated land trusts, getting a piece of the pie is a little bit like getting into an Ivy League college.

“It is very competitive this time because there are fewer funds and probably more projects,” said Angela Twitchell, executive director of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust.

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The Land for Maine’s Future Program was created by the Legislature in 1987. Since then, voters have approved five bonds totaling more than $126 million to protect more than 510,000 acres from development — or 2.3 percent of Maine’s 22 million acres.

The program has triggered more than $126 million in matching grants from private and public sources.

Most states have similar programs, some spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually to preserve lands, said Tim Glidden, program director.

Glidden said Maine taxpayers spend more for land conservation than taxpayers in New Hampshire, where money for land conservation comes from a fee on real estate transactions.

Among the projects funded in southern Maine are the 186-acre Fuller Farm in Scarborough, 468 acres at Blackstrap Hill and Wilshore Farm in Falmouth, and the 8,600-acre Leavitt Plantation Forest in Parsonfield.

In the latest round, the money will be divided among three kinds of projects, including $1.75 million earmarked for working waterfront projects and $1 million for farm preservation. The rest will go to general conservation and recreational land projects including some additional agricultural lands.

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The process is especially competitive for conservation and recreation lands, said Glidden. So far, the program has only been able to fund about half of what is requested.

Proposals must be filed by April 1, and an 11-member board uses a rigorous scoring process and looks for projects with statewide, regional or local significance. Funding decisions are announced in July by the board, which includes six private citizens and the commissioners of the State Planning Office and departments of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Conservation, Marine Resources and Agriculture.

Some local land trusts have already identified sites they want to preserve.

Twitchell said her group will apply for money to protect a 115-acre farm on Meadow Cross Road in Topsham, which has particularly rich soil and is in an agricultural corridor the trust has been working to preserve.

Twitchell said the state funds often trigger matching federal funds which make them especially attractive.

Her group previously was awarded $425,000, which went toward preserving 155 acres of the 320-acre Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick.

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York Land Trust will be working with the nine other members of the Agamenticus to the Sea Coalition in hopes of adding to the 2,746 acres preserved from Mount Agamenticus to the coast.

“These are the puzzle pieces we are trying to fill,” said Doreen MacGillis, executive director of the York Land Trust.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

 


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