President Bill Clinton’s plan to provide $1 billion for land purchases comes at a terrific time for Maine. Residents could profit from the state taking advantage of this funding if it, first, ensures that the feds simply pass along the money and, second, if it can be given some flexibility in how the money is used.

The Land Legacy Initiative would offer states more than half of the $1 billion, while devoting $442 million to direct federal land purchases. This year about $320 million was provided by Congress to buy land for preservation, almost all of it dedicated to federal purchases.

Maine can say thanks but no thanks to the federal purchases because it already has an particularly competent organization in the Land for Maine’s Future Board in place and a state-level task force not long ago set in detail land-purchase priorities for the state. In short, Maine does not need the federal government to come in and duplicate work nor reach conclusions based on its over-the-horizon perspective of northern New England.

The money set aside for states, however, is a different matter. Just as the president’s idea received bipartisan support this week in Washington — though Republicans say they differ on the details of the programs — so too have a range of Maine leaders concluded that it is time to renew the $35 million investment voters made a decade ago in support of land. The money from Washington could either serve as matching funds for a state bond or, if Maine’s share is large enough — Mr. Clinton mentioned this state specifically in his address on the subject — cover some of what the state is prepared to spend.

One of the thing that the Land for Maine Futures Board learned early in its operation is that it is not always necessary for the state to own land outright when preserving open spaces. Sometimes buying development rights works just as well and has the advantage of being less expensive without removing land from the tax rolls. The president’s plan was not specific about this feature would be included — it should be.

If those conditions can be satisfied, the line for the federal trough forms on the left.