Bill Text: VA HJR211 | 2016 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-02-05 - Bill text as passed House and Senate (HJ211ER) [HJR211 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2016-HJR211-Enrolled.html
|
WHEREAS, established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1966, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016; and WHEREAS, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation is a body politic of the Commonwealth, formed to promote the preservation of open-space lands and to encourage private gifts of money, securities, land, or other property to preserve the natural, scenic, historic, scientific, open-space, and recreational areas of the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation works collaboratively with federal, state, and local agencies to implement public policies related to the protection of Virginia's natural and cultural resources for future generations; and WHEREAS, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation builds partnerships with the private sector to promote voluntary participation in programs that further the Commonwealth's land conservation goals; and WHEREAS, since 1966, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation has protected nearly 800,000 acres of farmland, forestland, and other open space, all of which represents the Commonwealth's natural and cultural heritage; supports the agriculture, forestry, and tourism industries; and contributes to a high quality of life for all Virginians; and WHEREAS, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation owns more than 3,000 acres of land, which is managed as open-space reserves for public recreation, education, and wildlife habitat, and the foundation's pioneering work in the area of voluntary open-space easements has served as a model for land conservation efforts throughout the nation; and WHEREAS, since the passage of the Virginia Land Conservation Incentives Act of 1999 and the creation of land preservation tax credit incentives, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation has protected open space at a rate of about five acres every hour through the use of open-space easements; and WHEREAS, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation has contributed approximately one-third of the land conserved in the six-state Chesapeake Bay watershed since the signing of the Chesapeake 2000 agreement; during that time, about two-thirds of easement donors have reinvested tax credits they received back into sustaining and expanding their farming and forestry operations; and WHEREAS, nearly 95 percent of Virginians live within 10 miles of land protected by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation; the Virginia Outdoors Foundation has helped establish the Commonwealth as a national leader in the conservation of private lands through voluntary programs; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the Virginia Outdoors Foundation on the occasion of its 50th anniversary; and, be it RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for the organization's outstanding commitment to the conservation of the Commonwealth's natural and cultural resources. |
