NE Governors Adopt Land Conservation Report
New England's governors have adopted the report of their Blue Ribbon Commission on Land Conservation, chaired by Muskie School professor Richard Barringer and produced in part by the School's Environmental Finance Center. This landmark report indicates that New England faces profound challenges to its land and natural resource base. Climate change and its impacts, fragmentation of the landscape from sprawling development, and the demand for coastal property threaten the viability of the plants, animals, and the resource-based industries that depend on these lands. The Commission calls for a high-priority, New England-wide land conservation effort with measurable benefits for the region's farms and forests, climate change mitigation, alternative energies, bio-diversity, outdoor recreation and education, and sustainable economic development.
"This is the most ambitious land conservation effort that has ever been put forward for all New England," said Gov. John Baldacci. "For more than a century New England has been a national leader in maintaining and renewing the human benefits of land conservation. These carefully coordinated initiatives are timely and necessary if we are to pass these benefits along to future generations of New England citizens."
Posted Sep 17, 2009
