A year ago, Maine’s sportsmen flocked to the polls on election day and helped defeat a referendum that would have changed the way bears are hunted in our state.

In barber shops and general stores from Kittery to Allagash, the referendum was Topic 1 for many.

After months of debate, rhetoric and frenzied fund raising, the voters spoke. The referendum was defeated. Things returned to normal.

This year, the political climate is different for outdoors enthusiasts. There is no hot-button hunting issue on Tuesday’s ballot.

Things are great.

Life is great.

Heck, even deer season’s great, and most of us haven’t seen a buck yet.

But that doesn’t mean that those of us who enjoy hunting or fishing or just tromping around in the woods shouldn’t be paying close attention to Tuesday’s election.

There is an important bond issue on the ballot, and ignoring its significance would be a huge mistake.

Come November, there are certain things that are guaranteed to spark the fervor of activists and voters.

Presidential races are intriguing. Referendums are equally polarizing events, with true believers on both sides of virtually any issue drawing battle lines in the sand.

And then there are the bond issues.

Bond issues aren’t sexy. They aren’t spicy. They are (unless you happen to be an accountant who goes to sleep each night and dreams about future debt service and interest rates) pretty darned boring.

And they’re also extremely important.

On Tuesday, Maine’s voters will be asked whether they approve of a $12 million bond issue to purchase land and conservation easements statewide to be used for conservation, water access, wildlife and fish habitat, outdoor recreation including hunting and fishing, farmland preservation and working waterfront preservation.

I’m excited about the issue, and even I’ve got to admit that writing that last paragraph was painful.

That’s the way bond issues are. Wordy. Explicit. Boring.

Here’s what’s not boring about Question 5: The Land for Maine’s Future fund is tapped out. And after spending more than $85 million … for us … since 1987, it needs a new infusion of our cash in order to continue its priceless work.

In 1987, Mainers overwhelmingly passed a $35 million LMF bond. In 1999, a $50 million bond also won widespread support.

This year, the state wants another $12 million, and I’ve just got one thing to say about the request:

It’s not nearly enough.

Unfortunately, the original bond issue took its lumps in the legislature, and eventually emerged, ballot-ready but not nearly as bold.

According to Tim Glidden, the director of the Maine State Planning Office, in 2004 a much larger bond failed to make it out of the state legislature.

The LMF program had committed all of its remaining money by January of 2004, Glidden said, which meant the program has been unable to complete new purchases since then.

This year, a bond issue of $50 million was requested, which the legislature pared down to $12 million. Of that money, $2 million would go to a pilot program to help fishermen buy commercial facilities like wharves and warehouses.

Glidden said the LMF bond is important to Mainers because ongoing development pressure continues, whether the state has any funds to preserve land or not.

All development isn’t bad, Glidden pointed out, but saving Maine’s special places is vital.

But watching as more and more of those special places are bought by private owners, who may or may not allow traditional access, isn’t beneficial to most Mainers, he said.

“It’s basically like termites, gnawing away,” he said.

And without the Question 5’s passage, the state can’t continue its quest to lock up land that all Mainers can enjoy forever.

“If you’re not there with money on the table, landowners can’t wait around,” Glidden said. “They have their needs. You lose your chance [to buy the property].”

Glidden said that the inability of LMF to continue its work over the past year has been costly, but can be overcome.

“We think of it as a stumble,” he said. “One year’s a stumble. The second year your chin’s in the dirt. Three years and you don’t have a pulse.”

Since it began, the LMF program has made more than 120 land conservation projects possible.

The work of LMF staffers and a potent coalition of 300 Maine businesses and organizations has helped make that possible.

And now, again, it’s up to us to show that we appreciate the steps that have been made, and that we realize that there’s more to be done.

If you love the special places of Maine, and are grateful that we’ve got unfettered access to many of them, even as urban sprawl continues to redefine our state, Tuesday is an important day.

Vote. Support the Land For Maine’s Future program.

In 20 or 30 or 40 years, you’ll really be glad you did.

And so will your grandchildren.

Hatchery improvements unveiled

Speaking of bond issues, Mainers saw a graphic display of exactly how much can be accomplished through a well-conceived bond earlier this week in Embden.

First, let’s step back a few years.

Back in 2002, Maine voters approved a $7 million bond issue to provide needed capital for the state’s aging hatchery system.

Waste-water management was becoming a problem at many of the facilities, and the Department of Environmental Protection had let Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife officials know that something had to be done.

In addition, the state’s hatcheries were using decades-old technology and raising their fish in old-fashioned narrow raceways that severely limited the production potential.

On Wednesday, state officials marked the end of a complete renovation at the Embden hatchery when Gov. John Baldacci emptied a ceremonial bucket of brook trout into one of the brand new tanks. The renovation took 18 months to complete and cost $3.2 million.

Before the renovation, the Embden hatchery was able to produce 25,000 pounds of fish each year. A year ago, all of the DIF&W’s hatcheries produced a combined 300,000 pounds of fish that were stocked in Maine’s rivers, streams and lakes.

At full capacity, the newly refurbished Embden facility will be able to raise 100,000 pounds of fish per year, and can produce any combination of brook trout, landlocked salmon, brown trout, lake trout, rainbow trout and splake.

According to the DIF&W, the new 25,000-square-foot building holds 30 round tanks that are 20 feet in diameter and 31/2 feet deep.

Each row is fed by a separately controlled water source, and the hatchery can tailor the water temperature in each tank to ideal growing conditions for the species of fish it holds.

The new tanks are also self-cleaning. Fish are easier to feed, and bottom drains in each tank make for cleaner, more oxygenated water for the fish.

“This hatchery is an investment in the state’s future,” DIF&W commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin said. “Fishing has an enormous economic impact throughout the state. It supports jobs and it generates revenue, and it is an industry poised for growth.”

And with the Embden hatchery up and running, the state is even better positioned to respond to that potential growth.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.