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One of New Hampshire’s most successful recent land conservation initiatives, the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (“LCHIP”) may finally have the chance to be fully funded this year, and many years to come.
Established in 2000 to protect our most valuable open space, farmland, forests and historic buildings, LCHIP was highly successful in the years it was fully funded. In fact, between 2000 and 2003, LCHIP helped to protect more than 200,000 acres and 80 historical structures. The program helps cities and towns protect natural resources and historic buildings through a matching grant program. LCHIP is a critically important tool for leveraging fundraising at the local level. Unfortunately, the Legislature eliminated nearly all of the program’s funding in 2003.
“Without a program like LCHIP, our state lies open to sprawling development, which could overtake some of New Hampshire’s most important open space in the next decade,” said Environment New Hampshire’s Erika Staaf. “Strip malls, crowded highways and big box stores are quickly replacing our farms, woodlots and open space across the state, while unplanned growth cuts our special places into smaller and smaller pieces, limits state residents’ access to recreational lands and destroys critical wetlands for clean water.”
Securing funding today—and for the future
The good news is that LCHIP may have the support needed to not only receive full funding of $12 million for the next two years, but also, and more importantly, to establish a dedicated revenue source to permanentlyfund the programs and protect important New Hampshire lands into the future. Gov. John Lynch indicated his support of LCHIP by including $12 million in his biennial budget released on Feb. 15. A bill before the Legislature (HB 868) would fund LCHIP at the $12 million level through a fee on real estate documents recorded at the county Registry of Deeds, and would provide an ongoing source of funding in future budgets.
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