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TDC reviews county "GreenPrint" conservation maps and discusses land-trust and funding options
Summary
Board members reviewed a county GreenPrint study identifying drinking-water recharge, wildlife corridors, threatened habitats and other priority maps, and discussed starting a land trust and testing a sales-tax referendum to fund land conservation.
Board members used the March 11 meeting to highlight Citrus County's GreenPrint, a multi-map conservation analysis staff presented from a county workshop. The GreenPrint overlay identifies seven themes — drinking water (aquifer recharge), surface water, wildlife corridors, threatened and endangered species habitat, agriculture, historic and cultural resources, and access to recreation — and maps those assets against current development and protected lands.
A board member summarized the GreenPrint findings to the council: "The green print is essentially a blueprint for the county... It identified drinking water, surface water, wildlife corridors, threatened and endangered species and habitat, agriculture... historic and cultural resources... access to recreation." Members said the report showed much of the county's aquifer recharge and other resources remain unprotected.
The group discussed practical next steps: circulating the clerk's workshop materials to board members, supporting statistically valid voter polling by a partner organization to gauge interest in a potential sales-tax measure for conservation, and exploring a county land trust to aggregate small donations and match larger grants. Staff noted polling and a potential sales-tax referendum are two distinct avenues: land trusts can begin immediately; a sales-tax referendum (options discussed in the workshop) would be a separate civic process that could be tested with polling.
Board members stressed that small local contributions can unlock matching grants from state sources if used as local match money: "A little bit of money in this area will go a very long way," one member said, noting that matching funds increase competitiveness for state conservation grants. Staff committed to share the GreenPrint presentation and supplemental materials with board members and to coordinate with communications and administration on outreach.
Next steps: staff will circulate GreenPrint presentation materials, follow up on poll timing from the Trust for Public Land and discuss whether to coordinate further outreach or a proposal for ballot testing with county administration.
