Land Conservation
Whether you live on a farm or in the city, are a history lover or a hiker, or simply want to drink pure water straight from the tap, the land you live on and around shapes your life. 土地可以是你必不可少的收入来源，也可以是你和平与安宁的地方. Both ends – and everything in between – connect your quality of life to the place where you live.
切萨皮克的土地是我们地区环境健康和经济福祉的关键. The Bay’s land-to-water ratio — 2,800平方米的土地比1立方米的水——是世界上最大的沿海体. 我们如何使用和保护这些土地是影响湾区水质的最重要因素, the 110,000 miles of creeks and rivers flowing into it, the myriad living resources that depend on it, and the quality of life of the 18 million people who live around it.
Gunpowder River
Photo by Emily Myron
我们相信，土地保育对湾区修复和保育运动有切实和关键的好处——过滤水, recharging aquifers, sequestering carbon, eating nitrogen, stopping siltation – this is in addition to open space, wildlife habitat and access for recreation. 我们的研究表明，受保护的森林和湿地是我们所拥有的恢复努力中最努力的沉默伙伴，并且从保护提供的水质效益中获得了令人难以置信的效益和巨大的潜力.
Eighteen million people call the Bay watershed home. 这意味着我们有一千八百万个理由来保护这片土地，这样子孙后代就能拥有和我们一样的机会——顺便说一句, we will have an additional 4 million reasons by 2050.
我们希望雷切尔·卡森(Rachel Carson)向我们的孙辈证实，春天就像我们小时候记忆中的那样热闹. We would want Aldo Leopold to confirm that the “fierce green fire” has not died out. 我们希望泰迪·罗斯福告诉我们，我们一直是一个民族所得到的最光荣遗产的有力守护者. 我们需要采用美国印第安人的哲学，为七代人的未来着想，并为他们计划和行动. In the face of global catastrophe, 是时候用完全不同的方式做事了，在以前无法想象的空间尺度上思考和规划.
Noted conservationist E.O. Wilson [please see statement issued February 23, 2022, regarding Dr. Wilson’s support of scientific racism], author of Half-Earth, proposes a bold plan to save our imperiled biosphere: Conserve half the surface of the Earth, both land and ocean, to maintain nature. 现在是时候认真考虑设定一个目标，通过保护和恢复工作用地、自然用地和对我们地区未来至关重要的地方，来保护切萨皮克湾流域的一半. 像这样的事情只能而且应该在有意愿的土地所有者和使用精确的保护技术的情况下完成, so that it is done at the direction of communities and in the right places on the landscape.
Currently, approximately 22 percent of the land area in the Chesapeake watershed is conserved. This includes important working lands, rich farmlands, and productive forests, as well as our natural lands, including national and state parks and wildlife areas. In comparison, approximately 11 percent of the watershed is developed. 保护流域50%的工作用地和自然用地的遥远目标，仍将留下约39%的土地用于未来的增长和发展以及其他社会需求.
2014年的切萨皮克湾流域协议承诺到2025年保护200万英亩的额外土地, along with 300 new public access sites. It’s now 2024, and we’re halfway to both the 2-million-acre goal and the public access goal, which is certainly something to celebrate. But we need to begin to identify goals beyond 2025. It’s time to think through how these ideas apply to our Chesapeake Bay and watershed. It is time to think big, because our Chesapeake is the biggest asset we all share. 通过精心的管理，我们可以将我们引以为傲的东西传递给我们的子孙后代. This is the goal of a lifetime.
Conserving 30% of the Chesapeake by 2030
了解我们的数据驱动运动，到2030年保护切萨皮克30%的土地，一些世界领先的科学家呼吁在全球范围内大幅增加保护工作和栖息地保护. Renowned biologist E.O. Wilson has called for half of the earth’s lands and waters to be dedicated to nature. Dr. 乔治梅森大学的托马斯·洛夫乔伊呼吁到2030年保护30%的地球. [Read More]
Land and Water Conservation Fund
土地和水资源保护基金(LWCF)是美国保护不可替代土地和改善全国户外娱乐机会的最重要的项目. The program works in partnership with federal, state and local efforts to protect land in our national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, national trails, and other public lands; to preserve working forests and ranchlands; to support state and local parks and playgrounds; to preserve battlefields and other historic and cultural sites; and to provide the tools that communities need to meet their diverse conservation and recreation needs.
We are a member of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition and advocate for annual funding for this important program and for our region.
Maryland Program Open Space
Program Open Space is Maryland’s leading land preservation program. In 1969, 马里兰州议会通过0的转让税制度创造了项目开放空间.5 percent on every real estate transaction in the state. Thus began the remarkable history of protecting land, and creating parks and playgrounds that helped to make this state such an attractive place to live, work and play.
Program Open Space funds the acquisition and development of state and local parks, the preservation of unique natural areas that harbor rare and endangered species, the preservation of farmland and the protection of locally identified resource lands (farm, forest, historic/cultural) with conservation easements.
这笔收入旨在跟上不断上涨的土地成本和发展速度，以及空地和农田的流失. Also, by partnering with non-profit organizations and public agencies, POS leverages resources and increases efficiency, accomplishing more for Maryland taxpayers with less.
十大赌博正规老平台协会在马里兰州立法机构倡导为这一重要项目提供全额资金，并且是该协会的成员 Partners for Open Space.
Virginia Land Preservation Tax Credit
The Commonwealth of Virginia has created a powerful incentive for land conservation, a transferable credit to pay state income tax. It is an effective, voluntary, free-market mechanism that has proven to vastly increase donations of conservation easements, which protects the integrity of the landscape and benefits the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
In 1999, the Virginia General Assembly passed the “Virginia Land Conservation Incentives Act,为保护维吉尼亚州的自然保护价值而十大赌博正规老平台土地或地役权的业主，将获得该州所得税的抵免. 最初的税收抵免是该州符合条件的保护十大赌博正规老平台价值的50%.
Today, 弗吉尼亚州允许对十大赌博正规老平台土地或保护地役权价值的40%进行所得税抵免. Taxpayers may use up to $20,000 per year through 2020 and $50,000 per year in subsequent tax years. Tax credits may be carried forward for up to 13 years. Unused credits may be sold, 允许很少或没有弗吉尼亚州所得税负担的个人利用这一福利.
The Chesapeake Conservancy advocates for the maintenance of this important program, which has protected hundreds of thousands of acres across Virginia from development, and is a member of the Virginia United Land Trusts Association, Virginia Conservation Network and VirginiaForever.
Pennsylvania Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund
In 1993, the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the general public established the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund. The Keystone Fund and its dedicated funding source, a 15% share of the state’s realty transfer tax, created a dedicated and permanent funding source for making investments in recreation, parks, conservation, libraries, historical preservation, and education.
The Keystone Fund has helped protect 161,000+ acres of green space for county and municipal parks, greenways, wildlife habitat, and other open space uses. This also funds thousands of community park development projects, including ballfields, playgrounds, pools, picnic areas, and recreation centers and trail projects for walking, bicycling, and other recreation uses.
We are a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Land Trusts and we advocate for the full funding of the Keystone Fund.
Delaware Open Space Program
Delaware’s Open Space Program coordinates the acquisition of parks, open space, natural areas, forests, wildlife habitat, greenways, and access to waterways. 这些管理区域包括特拉华州多种多样的自然和文化遗产的一些最好的例子.
1990年，随着《十大赌博正规老平台》的通过，特拉华州获得开放空间土地和保护地役权的过程被编纂成法典. DNREC的土地保护办公室通过确定具有高生态价值的地区来实施这项法律，并通过与希望保护其财产不受开发和永久保护的土地所有者合作来保护这些地区. Since the law was passed in 1990, over 57,000 acres of the Delaware landscape has been protected from development.
我们强烈支持《十大赌博正规老平台》，并每年为该计划争取全额资金.