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10/15/2007

They could have called it, "The Preservation, Recreational, Conservation and Property Access Administration" and we would have had headlines that said, "PRCPAA buys $15m bog in County."

But someone with a sense of both language and marketing came up with, "Land for Maine's Future" -- it's short, descriptive and visionary.

And it's out of money.

Maine voters funded the program first in 1987 by approving a bond for $35 million to begin buying land and conservation easements across the state to prevent farms, forests and other lands from being developed or closed off by private owners. Instead, the program's lands are preserved for everyone's use, from hunters to snowmobilers, from hikers to birders.

In 1999, voters approved a $50 million Land for Maine's Future bond and in 2005, $12 million was approved.

All of that has been spent or committed, and 444,000 acres will be conserved.

Next month, voters will be asked to vote on a new bond, for $35.5 million. (It's Question 4 on the ballot).

The bond -- a bond is just a long-term loan -- would provide money for the following programs:

n Land for Maine's Future: $17 million to acquire land and interests in land for conservation, water access, recreation, wildlife and fish habitat and farmland preservation. That amount will be matched by up to $8.5 million in funds from federal and other sources.

n State parks and historic sites: $7.5 million to improve the state's 40 such sites. The needs are obvious to anyone who has visited some of these parks, lighthouses, etc., and seen the deterioration. This is an investment that will pay off for Mainers and for the tourist industry.

n Riverfront Community Development: $5 million to spur economic development along rivers such as the Kennebec. This will be used to get an additional $10 million from other sources.

n Working waterfront preservation: $3 million that is administered by Land for Maine's Future. In recent years, it has become obvious that one of our greatest assets -- the accessible coastline -- could be bought up by private, often out of state, interests, diminishing the quality of life for Mainers and visitors alike.

n There's also $3 million to be split among helping farms develop environmentally sound water use and helping cities and towns with roads, treatment plants and other infrastructure needs.

We recommend voters approve Question 4 on Nov. 6.

But we have some reservations. The $1.5 million for municipal infrastructure improvements seems like too little to matter much, and we suspect it was thrown in to make some interest group go along with everything else. This smells of government-as-usual.

We also have one quibble with the Land for Maine's Future program -- many of its projects are well-kept secrets, and they shouldn't be. The program should do a much better job of publicizing where it has lands, how to get to them and how to get around on them.

The nearby Kennebec Highlands, for example, was partially paid for by the lands program, yet the trailheads are not marked or not marked well and a map to them costs $7.95. That's a slap in the face to Mainers, who already paid for the land. A buck or so for the map might be OK, but for $7.95 you should get a power bar and a bottle of water with your one-page map, which is sold to raise funds for the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance, a partner in the project.

Land for Maine's Future and its partners would do well for their own sakes -- and the public's -- to do whatever has to be done in order to let everyone in on the secret.

That said, it's a program whose value pretty much speaks for itself. Maine is about enjoying its forests and mountains, lakes and rivers, rocky shores and isolated islands. Let too much of them be developed or go private, and we don't have a future.

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