Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fellow birders, please vote tomorrow to conserve additional bird and wildlife habitat for Virginia. With low turnout expected, every vote is crucial, so forward this to friends and family. On Tuesday, November 5th, Virginians supporting state parks and land conservation will have an opportunity that has occurred only four times in Virginia history. Citizens will have the chance to cast their vote on the 2002 Virginia State Parks and Natural Areas Bond. A similar bond referendum received strong voter approval in 1992. However, that was a presidential election year. Voter turnout is expected to be much, lower this year. That means that EVERY VOTE IS IMPORTANT!! Please forward this message to as many friends, family members, and colleagues as you can. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to protect our land, water and wildlife for the future. This year's Parks and Natural Areas Bond referendum will provide $119 million for these important resources. Here's how the land conservation portion of the money will be spent if the referendum passes: * To create 10 new natural area preserves and expand eight existing preserves that safeguard sensitive natural habitat * To buy land for three new state parks and additional land for 11 existing parks. In total, over $36 million will be allocated to land conservation. This would be the most significant step the Commonwealth has taken towards meeting its statewide and Chesapeake Bay land conservation goals. Since natural areas, parks, and green space help maintain water quality, they are vital to the health of our streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. The remainder of the bond issue funds will pay for water quality improvements and facility upgrades at nearly all of Virginia's 34 state parks. It is important to Virginia's economy to have well-maintained parks and recreational facilities. Virginia's state parks pump more than $140 million dollars into our economy each year, helping make tourism the state's second largest industry. Since interest rates are very low, and the bonds would be paid back over a period of years, the impact on the state budget will be very small. This impact has already been factored into the existing budget. On November 5th, please vote. The following is the language as it will appear on the November 5 ballot: Question #2: Parks and Recreational Facilities: Shall Chapters 854 and 884, Acts of the General Assembly of 2002, authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the maximum amount of $119,040,000 pursuant to Article X, Section 9(b) of the Constitution of Virginia for capital projects for parks and recreational facilities, take effect? Additional information about the bonds (including a comprehensive list of proposed projects) can be found at: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/cdq6Mr71EcDq/ To find out where you vote go to www://www.sbe.state.va.us/ and click on Election Information, and then click on Where do I Vote. Enter your residential information and your precinct location will be provided. Thank you for supporting the Parks and Natural Areas General Obligation Bond Referendum. Eileen Rowan, Coordinator Virginia Important Bird Areas Program Audubon Virginia P.O. Box 1089 Ashland, VA 23005 804/752-5850, 752-5882 fax, 339-3216 cell email: erowan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis -- -- Type: image/gif -- File: image001.gif You are subscribed to VA-Richmond-General. To unsubscribe, send email to va-richmond-general-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. To adjust other settings (vacation, digest, etc.) please visit, //www.freelists.org/list/va-richmond-general.