“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?”

Voters created the Land for Maine’s Future Program in 1987 with enthusiastic support of a $35 million bond issue. The program promised to preserve the state’s most special places and to do it by forging public and private partnerships. It has done this by becoming one of the most popular government programs in Maine. Now it is out of money. A yes vote on Question 5 will temporarily replenish the LMF coffers so that more important land can be set aside for public use.

The program has preserved more than 115 parcels from one corner of the state to another. To complete as many projects as it has since voters approved a $50 million bond in 1999, LMF would need about $20 million a year. LMF money has been used to preserve small farms, to protect wildlife habitat along river corridors and to turn a former railroad bed into a multi-use trail. The protected land includes places you’ve heard of, like the miles of shoreline on Moosehead Lake, and places you probably haven’t such as the Bold Coast in Cutler or Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth.

This year’s bond has a new component – $2 million to preserve waterfront access for commercial fishermen. This money won’t purchase land outright but will fund grants that will provide a portion of the funding that a group of fishermen may need to buy a warehouse or wharf. It follows the successful LMF model of encouraging funding from a variety of sources, not just the state. It is estimated that four or five such projects could be funded with this money.

The LMF program already directs 10 percent of its funds toward farmland conservation and 10 percent to projects that will ensure access to water, such as boat landings.

LMF projects have been very successful in drawing matching funds, far beyond the 50 cents required for each state dollar. Since 1999, LMF projects have gotten an average of $2.50 in matching funds for every $1 the program spends.

A major criticism of the program was that these public lands were hard to find and access. With $25,000 from L.L. Bean, the program has revamped its Web site to include detailed directions to each parcel. The site also includes information about what types of activities are available at each location. This user-friendly information should further boost use of LMF lands, which are in everyone’s back yard.

An analysis of the Land for Maine’s Future program done by the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy and the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service found that it is “a well-conceived, wisely administered and widely supported program.” That is good reason to vote yes on Question 5.