The administration recently confirmed that Gov. LePage is withholding $11.4 million in voter-approved bonds for the Land for Maine’s Future program.

As a result, at least 30 projects that were approved for LMF funding are now in limbo.

Over the years, the Land for Maine’s Future program has protected land of statewide and regional significance for recreation, wildlife habitat and open space.

However, important conservation efforts such as the approved Cold Stream Project in northern Maine are now at risk because of lack of funding.

This project would protect 8,000 acres that includes habitat for wild native brook trout, threatened Canada lynx and a dwindling northern Maine deer herd valued by generations of hunters, naturalists and fishermen.

In southern Maine, another threatened project would have protected over 200 acres in Cumberland and North Yarmouth.

This area includes one of the best inland wading bird and waterfowl habitats in this part of the state and a rare oak-hickory forest in the surrounding uplands.

It has been reported that the LMF funding is being withheld pending approval of the administration’s plan to increase timber harvest on Maine’s public lands and use the funding for projects in other state departments.

LMF funding has been and should continue to be a bipartisan effort and should not be held hostage to unrelated issues.

We urge the administration to release the LMF funding so that Mainers can benefit from these valuable land conservation projects.

Robert Bryan

Harpswell

Michael Verville

Brunswick

New England Chapter, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers

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