New Program Focuses on the Economic Benefits of Land Conservation
The Dollars and Sense of Saving Special Places hits the road

“New Hampshire has been the fastest growing state in New England for the last four decades,” says Frank Mitchell, land and water conservation specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension. “One major consequence of this growth is that the state is losing approximately 20,000 acres of open space to development every year.”

“New Hampshire residents value undeveloped natural areas, agricultural lands and forest lands as the backdrop shaping what we call ‘community character’,” Mitchell says. “These open lands also protect clean water, wetlands, wildlife habitats, agriculture, forests, recreation, and the scenery that draws people here to live and tourists here to visit.”

“But land use economic issues are a key, sometimes overlooked, piece of the land use planning and decision-making process in our towns and cities,” says Mitchell.

“In recent years, more local open space committees, conservation commissions and town planning boards have called us for help with land conservation initiatives. New Hampshire communities concerned about the economic impacts of growth and development have begun conducting studies on the relative costs of land development. We realized other communities could benefit from what they’d learned,” says Mitchell. “So we designed a program to meet this need, using research-based information specific to the state and region.”

“In conjunction with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and the Forest Society’s Center for Land Conservation Assistance, we’ve created a one-hour presentation called The Dollars and Sense of Saving Special Places. The presentation features slides and handouts that conservation commissions, open space committees, town planning boards and other civic organizations can use to build awareness and support locally for land conservation.

“Dollars and Sense covers the effects of growth, the benefits of open space, the economics of land use, and, because communities usually need funds to accomplish conservation goals, the presentation also includes information about a variety funding sources available to support conservation projects, including municipal, federal, state and private sources.”

For more information about The Dollars and Sense of Saving Special Places program and how to arrange a presentation in your community, contact: Frank Mitchell (862-1067) or Amanda Stone (346-5324).

Research on the economics of land use

“Recently, UNH Cooperative Extension, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests , and the Forest Society’s Center for Land Conservation Assistance compiled information from a number of studies that collectively confirm the economic value of open space,” says Mitchell. “The data clearly show that working farms and forests and undeveloped natural areas bring in more revenue to a town than the land requires in services, and that conserving these lands can slow property tax increases in the long run.”

Mitchell cites these examples:

• A 1999 statewide study found that the open space components of agriculture, forestry, recreation, tourism and second homes contribute a total of $8 billion per year or 25 percent of the annual Gross State Product, and 35 percent of local taxes.

• A 1994 study considered tax bills on median-value homes in all 234 N.H. towns. This study found taxes higher in towns with more taxable property, more residents, and more commercial and industrial development. It also found taxes lower in towns with more open space and a higher proportion of vacation homes.

• A 2004 study in the town of Lee looked at 33 residential areas (see Figure 1). In 30 of these areas, tax income did not cover the expenses. Similar studies in Chester and Peterborough have also shown that residential land use rarely pays for itself.
  
  
• In 13 of the 14 New Hampshire towns that have conducted “cost of community services” studies (see Figure 2), residential properties require more in services than they provide in revenues.

New Hampshire communities respond

New Hampshire communities have responded to the rapid growth and loss of open space with an unprecedented willingness to fund land conservation.

“Since 2001, 70 New Hampshire towns and cities have raised and appropriated more than $125 million for land conservation,” Mitchell says. “That’s impressive!”

A survey of voters conducted in 2004 by UNH professors Mark Ducey and Richard England revealed some reasons voters have been approving conservation funding measures:

• 47 percent said open space, historical character and natural beauty were the features they appreciated most about their towns.
• 41percent identified “growth, sprawl and open space” as the biggest issue or problem facing their towns.
• 60 percent felt their town had grown “too fast.”

• More than 75 percent reported they had voted for a land conservation proposal in their town.
• 63 percent felt that land conservation “will assure the present and future quality of drinking water.”

“The appropriation of conservation funding is only part of the story,” says Mitchell. “Communities and conservation groups have also become much more sophisticated in the way they plan and conduct conservation projects. For example, most towns have established criteria for selecting and evaluating land conservation projects, and are using the criteria to focus their efforts on the most important conservation properties in order to get the most conservation value for their investment.”

Conservation links

• Brentwood Open Space Committee
  Includes fiscal impact study data as well as land conservation information.
  
  
• NH Association of Conservation Commissions list - N.H. municipalities that dedicate all or a portion of the Land Use Change Tax to conservation
  
  
• UNH Cooperative Extension’s Community Conservation Assistance Program A team of Extension Educators provides direct assistance to selected community land and water conservation planning projects at no cost to the communities.
  
  
• Society for the Protection of NH Forests
  Includes information on land conservation planning, implementation and funding.
  
  
• New Hampshire 's Changing Landscape 2005: Population Growth and Land Use Changes: What They Mean for the Granite State (Executive summary). An update of the Forest Society’s 1999 analysis of changes in population growth, development and land use and the impacts on natural resource values