No group has benefited more from the Land for Maine’s Future program than sportsmen. That’s why the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine worked hard this year to place a new LMF bond issue on the ballot. SAM’s executive director, Dave Trahan, was instrumental in convincing the Governor to allow the LMF bond to go on the ballot, after it was endorsed by the legislature.
Our favorite outdoor activities depend on access to land and water. With more and more private land being posted, sportsmen will increasingly depend on public land. LMF makes sure there will always be places to hunt and fish in Maine. Here’s what you need to know:
1) LMF has conserved 500,000 acres at an average cost of just $113 per acre.
2) All land and easements purchased with LMF money (except for farmland) must be open to hunting, fishing, and other traditional outdoor activities – forever.
3) LMF has purchased 15,000 acres of deer yards – and the next bond issue directs even more LMF money to this important goal.
4) Mainers have no legal rights of access to brooks, streams, and rivers – one reason 10 percent of LMF’s money is dedicated to water access.
5) Almost every LMF project includes frontage on some water body. Access to more than 1000 miles of water frontage has been obtained.
6) LMF will run out of money this year – leaving critically important projects on the sidelines, including one that would acquire a huge amount of brook trout spawning area and deer yards in western Maine.
7) Sportsmen serve on the LMF Board, including the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Here’s what you’ll see on your ballot.
Ballot Question 3: Do you favor a $5,000,000 bond issue to purchase land and conservation easements statewide from willing sellers for public land and water access, conservation, wildlife or fish habitat and outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing and deer wintering areas, and to preserve working farmland and working waterfronts to be matched by at least $5,000,000 in private and public contributions.
Please Vote Yes. It’s a gift to all future Maine sportsmen. Our outdoor heritage depends on this!
