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State should build on open space vision

May 25, 2018

The citizens of Delaware have shown great foresight through the years to protect valuable open space and natural resources for immediate and long-term future benefit.

Ocean beaches bring incalculable joy to millions of people each year along with hundreds of millions of tourism dollars to stoke our economy. The public has direct access to those beaches because forward-thinking people recognized their value and took steps necessary to keep well over half of the state's coastline open.

That public access has enhanced quality of life and property values across Sussex. We also have an excellent system of state parks in Delaware, along with national wildlife refuges and state wildlife preserves, because of that preservation commitment.

Delaware leads the nation in acreage preserved for agriculture - on a per capita basis - because the state's conservation-minded citizens have long recognized the importance of that industry to the state economy. That importance keeps growing because of Delaware's geographical location surrounded by one of the world's largest megalopolises.

Our wildlife - so vulnerable to development - has also benefited.

Delaware now has the opportunity to further that wise commitment. Because of an improving economy, economic forecasters project state revenues for the next couple of years will be at least $60 million more than was thought at the beginning of the present budget cycle.

Due to federal tax cuts, those increases aren't expected to hold. It would be imprudent of lawmakers to expand annual operating expenses because of what amounts to a windfall. But the extra money gives Gov. John Carney and lawmakers an opportunity to add several million dollars to what has already been budgeted for the coming fiscal year for open space and agricultural land preservation.

Almost all of that funding had been cut over the past decade due to a tight economy. This turnaround gives us an opportunity to make further, one-time acquisitions - especially in areas vulnerable to sea level rise - and do some catching up for all the benefits that past efforts demonstrate.

 

  • Editorials are considered and written by Cape Gazette Editorial Board members, including Publisher Chris Rausch, Editor Jen Ellingsworth, News Editor Nick Roth and reporters Ron MacArthur and Chris Flood. 

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