Land for Maine

The Legislature’s Appropriation Committee today is expected to sort out the various proposals for public land purchases and, perhaps, come up with a dollar amount for future purchases. A strong economy, low interest rates and rapid changes in ownership of large pieces of the state make this a unique opportunity for lawmakers to make a bold investment in Maine.

Many legislators already recognize this opportunity, and much of the debate today should be over how much the state ought to spend, not whether it should. But here, too, the situation favors a strong public commitment. Congress and the White House for the first time in several years seem likely to dramatically increase the amount of money in the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which would allow Maine to come find favorable matching money for its own investment.

The state side of this fund has been empty for years and might not be around in the future; if Maine wants help with land purchases, this is the time to ask. The longevity of another source is equally uncertain. Private conservation groups have been around in Maine for a very long time, of course, but rarely have they been willing to put up as much money as they are now. The Nature Conservancy’s purchase in northwestern Maine, the Trust for Public Land’s deal in Scarborough and on Plum Creek land and the conservation easements bought by the New England Forestry Foundation on Pingree land are on a new scale.

Where does this leave the state? It is currently a bystander to events within its own borders. Gov. Angus King was a strong advocate behind the Trust for Public Lands proposal, but he still must wait to see whether the Legislature will come up with the money needed to fund the project. And that, in brief, is the problem. Without money behind land-purchase plans, Maine is done unto rather than a doer. With so much land moving in the state now, lawmakers need to give organizations such as Land for Maine’s Future the resources to act when the right land for the right price comes on the market.

Speaker Steve Rowe had the good idea of using a portion of the real-estate transfer tax to provide a steady stream of approximately $5 million a year for land purchases or easements. That should be matched with a bond large enough to give Maine the long-term ability to become involved with substantial purchases. Appropriations will hear several bonding proposals, but the two most likely packages are the governor’s, which calls for a $50 million bond plus $5 million from surplus to pay for the Plum Creek/Scarborough deal, and a plan by Sen. Chellie Pingree. Her bill would bond for $75 million, plus $20 million in direct funding.

Given the demands on the state’s surplus, $5 million is much more likely than $20 million. The difference in the bonding levels is the difference between Maine going through this debate again in seven or eight years, after the $50 million is spent, or in 10 or 11 years, after the $75 million is spent. The $75 million, however, gives the state greater flexibility to make more substantial purchases in a shorter period of time.