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RESOLUTION NO. 2007- 015 <br />WHEREAS, Florida Forever, through the Florida Communities Trust, has <br />assisted Florida's cities and counties in protecting their cultural and historical resources, <br />meeting the challenges of growth management, and providing recreational outdoor <br />experiences in both urban and rural settings, and <br />WHEREAS, Florida Forever has helped to save many of Florida's <br />beaches, rivers, bays, forests, coral reefs and estuaries that provide the foundation for <br />our $3 billion tourism industry that attracts more than 80 million visitors each year, and <br />WHEREAS, thirty Florida local governments, including Indian River <br />County, have enacted land acquisition financing programs in the past decades, and <br />these conservation programs serve to leverage Florida Forever funding and increase <br />the impact of State land conservation funding, and <br />WHEREAS, Florida is experiencing rapid population growth, with <br />approximately 1,100 new residents every day; and Floridians demand a high quality of <br />life that includes clean water and air, green open space, access to water and <br />recreational opportunities, and <br />WHEREAS, Florida Forever and other land conservation programs must <br />compete in Florida's market of surging land and housing prices; and, <br />WHEREAS, the effectiveness of Florida Forever has diminished because <br />of escalating land prices and the impacts of inflation; and, <br />WHEREAS, the funding for the Florida Forever program will sunset in <br />2010 and may be substantially exhausted prior to that date; and, <br />WHEREAS, research by the Florida Forever Coalition has found that well <br />in excess of $10 billion in State funding is currently needed to purchase wildlife and <br />2 <br />F:\Attorney\Nancy\DOCS\RES\Reso florida forever program.doc <br />