About Land for Maine's Future
For two decades, the Land for Maine's Future Program has helped citizens protect the character of their towns and open spaces: Maine voters established the Land for Maine's Future Program to secure public access for recreation, to conserve our most important habitats, to preserve Maine's farming traditions and to protect the natural infrastructure vital to both our sense of place and our economic future.
The program has protected working farms and forests, ocean access, trails of all sorts and pristine waterways. And although the Land for Maine's Future Program has been doing this for over two decades, we've only recently coined the phrase that encompasses this special relationship between citizens and their environment: quality of place.
A Popular and Proven Program for Maine
Maine voters have given the program resounding support. Four separate bonds have been approved, all by 2:1 margins. Four times (in 1987, 1999, 2005 and 2007), Maine voters overwhelmingly approved LMF and passed bonds allocating funding for the program.
The program succeeds in large part because it is designed to be inclusive, drawing on the creativity and problem-solving skills of Maine citizens all over the State who are working for a better future in their communities. LMF projects represent partnerships with local sporting groups, towns, land trusts, state agencies and many others. The LMF board, comprising state office holders and private citizens appointed by the governor, reviews proposals from Maine citizens, municipalities, agencies and land trusts and decides which provide the greatest public benefits.
Past Successes
The program has helped citizens conserve a half million acres distributed across every Maine county. That includes hundreds of thousands of acres of sustainably managed forests, 6,000 acres of farmland, a thousand miles of shorefront and well over 100 miles of multi-use trails. And the state has leveraged more in federal and private funds than it has spent.
The program has established and guaranteed public access to thousands of acres and dozens of ponds, streams, lakes and rivers for hunting, fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, biking, camping and many other recreational pursuits.
Driving Maine's Economy
For more than 20 years LMF has provided a strong economic boost for Maine by protecting the natural assets which drive key industries.
- By conserving 25 working farms - supporting family farmers producing diary, vegetables, meat and flowers.
- By helping to conserve more than 250,000 acres of working forestland - guaranteeing continued sustainable forest management and public access for hunting, hiking, fishing and many other uses.
- By working with communities across the state to establish hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails. LMF-funded trails tend to be critical links in the statewide snowmobile system that are difficult to replace.
- By protecting more than 1,000 miles of shorefront - guaranteeing access for canoeing, fishing and boating.
- By serving all Maine citizens and visitors - those who fish, hike, farm, raft, bike, boat, hunt, snowmobile, camp and picnic.
- By protecting coastal sites to ensure clammers and wormers have access to mud flats, ensuring their economic future.
By leveraging nearly $100 million dollars of local, federal and private matching funds.