Voters OK land conservation programs in 21 states

Voters in 21 states approved ballot measures providing almost $800 million for land conservation measures in this month's election, according to The Trust for Public Land. There were 57 measures in state and local elections, and 46 won, an 81 percent success rate, reports Tom Kenworthy of ThinkProgress, a left-leaning online publication. (TPL map: Conservation measure election results; click on map for larger version)

Local and state support for public land conservation has been "extraordinarily resilient," Kenworthy reports. The Trust for Public Land says voters have approved conservation measures more than 75 percent of the time since 1988. It says voters have voted to pay more than $58 billion in taxes since 1988 to protect land.

Some example of this year's conservation measures approved by voters: Alabama's Forever Wild land conservation initiative will be extended for 20 years; Maine voters passed the Land for Maine's Future program by 62 percent; and voters in Rhode Island approved a $20 million bond to acquire farmland and protect water quality in Narragansett Bay. Other measures were also approved in 18 other states. To see if a measure passed in your state, click here.