Open space cuts are shortsighted

It was a tough year for Delaware’s General Assembly. Last-ditch success forging a budget bill compromise fended off a long list of program cuts that had governing officials at the town, county and state level all squirming, but the final budget still had its casualties.

Of great concern, especially in rapidly developing Sussex, was completely axing funds for open space acquisition. In Gov. Markell’s original budget, the Open Space Council was to have received $3 million, which has been the norm for the past several years.

While the legislators were able to restore $3 million for the state’s successful agricultural land preservation program, the open space program didn’t make it off the cutting-room floor.

The ag preservation program is good for farmers, good for the state’s economy and brings visual benefits. But unlike thousands of acres preserved with Open Space Council funds that require public access, farmland preservation lands remain private and off-limits to the people.

In a state that places a high premium on the health benefits of an active and outdoor lifestyle, providing accessible outdoor areas where people can hike and hunt and explore must be considered an important component of necessary public infrastructure.

Legislators have to be thinking now about how to grapple with the even larger budget shortfall projected for the 2017 fiscal year. In that thought should come ways to bring back the Open Space Council monies that, for the past 26 years, have helped Delaware remain attractive as a destination for visitors and as a desirable place to live. Without those monies, and with inevitable development continuing, our proportion of open space and the benefits it brings can only decline.

Let’s not slide.

Let’s not shortchange future generations of Delawareans who want to be able to enjoy a proportionate share of open space similar to what we cherish now.

The only way to do that will be to reinstate the Open Space Council money in next year’s budget and continue this state’s grand tradition of providing natural areas that enhance our quality of life, help protect our property values, and preserve adequate habitat for wildlife.