Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 18 · column 5 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
(Continued from Page 1) places that are the rarest, the most threatened, the most in need of protection,” and then a coalition of state and local governments and conservation groups should act together to preserve those areas.'
As an example of this joint commitment, he cited Indiana, where a conservative governor pledged that the state would put up $5 million for open space preservation if the Nature Conservancy and other organizations would match the amount. “The private sector ought to be in there pitching,” said Mr. Lowe, adding that half has already been raised.
Closer to home, he pointed to Northern Virginia’s Mason Neck Park, established 13 years ago through a partnership between the Commonwealth, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the Nature Conservancy. “That’s an example of what can be done when the Commonwealth is in there participating . . . But we haven’t done anything like that in Virginia in 13 years.” Mr. Lowe said. “It’s been a long time since the Commonwealth has made the funding available to protect its natural heritage.”
A statewide transfer tax would provide the means of achieving this protection, he said, telling the legislators of Maryland’s Program Open Space. In effect for the past 17 years, that program’s real estate transfer tax of one-half of one percent generates between $50 and $60 million annually for the protection of park land and open space. The goal is to provide permanent protection to 10 percent of the state’s acreage and already 90,000 acres have been purchased for state parks, forests and wildlife areas and 23,000 acres for county parks, according to Mr. Lowe.
Looking further south, Mr. Lowe reported that Florida’s real estate transfer tax generates $60 million annually for open space preservation while South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas all recently upped their transfer taxes and dedicated the increases to acquisition of park land and protection of historic areas.
A real estate transfer tax is “the ideal solution,” Mr. Lowe continued. “It works” in southern states akin to
93.4%