BANGOR – Supporters of Question 5, the bond issue to continue funding for the Land for Maine’s Future program, held events Monday in Orono and Cape Elizabeth at LMF project sites to endorse the Nov. 8 ballot item.

The Vote YES on 5 campaign urges Maine voters to approve a $12 million bond for the Land for Maine’s Future program, which has run out of money for future projects.

Backers of the bond are afraid that without the funding, the program will lose the momentum it has gained over the last 20 years in finding balance between conservation and development.

“If we don’t pass this bond, this program can be dead in the water and we’re going to lose that momentum,” Bruce Kidman, communications director for The Nature Conservancy of Brunswick, said Wednesday during a visit with the editorial board of the Bangor Daily News before the Orono event.

Kidman noted that Maine voters have twice before supported LMF bonds, and he is hopeful that they will continue to do so.

“We really, really have to pass this thing,” he said.

Since it began in 1987, LMF has made 120 land conservation projects possible throughout the state. Nearly 300 Maine businesses and organizations comprise a coalition that supports the program.

If passed, the money will be divided so that 10 percent goes to farmland projects, 10 percent to water access projects, $2 million to support the state’s working waterfronts, and the remainder to other LMF-approved projects.

The $2 million for working waterfronts represents a new endeavor.

“As far as we know, this is the first time anywhere this project has been attempted,” Kidman said.

The money will be used to develop a pilot program that will help fishermen purchase commercial facilities such as wharves and warehouses.

As coastline property rapidly is being bought up by private individuals, access to shoreline property that’s important to the state’s commercial fishing industry is becoming scarce.

Fishermen would have to apply for the grant money and the applications then would be reviewed by the Department of Marine Resources.

The final decision as to who receives funding would be left up to the LMF board of trustees.

“What’s so important about Question 5 is that all the funds go to areas that will provide permanent public access,” Bucky Owen, the former commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said Wednesday in a press release. “If you’re a Mainer concerned with preserving the state’s best areas to hunt, fish, hike and snowmobile, Question 5 is a must.”

Question 5

“Do you favor a $12,000,000 bond issue to purchase land and conservation easements statewide from willing sellers for conservation, water access, wildlife and fish habitat, outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing, farmland preservation and working waterfront preservation to be matched by at least $7,000,000 in private and public contributions?”