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THE. TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND To: From: Ken Grudens, Executive Director, Indian River Land Trust Will Abberger, Vice President, Director, Conservation Finance and Wendy Muzzy, Director, Feasibility Research Date: February 5, 2020 Re: Indian River County Conservation Finance Proposal Adequate funding is a challenge for all park and conservation -related activities. The Trust for Public Land's (TPL) Conservation Finance program helps communities and agencies identify and raise public funds for parks and land conservation from state and local sources. TPL provides professional, technical assistance services to local governments, special districts, and others that need to research and evaluate the feasibility of park and land conservation finance options. Since 1996, TPL has been involved in more 572 successful ballot measures that have created more than $79 billion in new funding for parks and conservation. Voters have approved 82 percent of the ballot measures supported by TPL. In Florida, The Trust for Public Land has worked on 32 successful bond, sales tax, or property tax campaigns to create new funding for parks and conservation to benefit Florida local governments. TPL also provided the campaign leadership for the 2014 citizens' initiative, Florida's Water and Land Conservation amendment to the state Constitutional ("Amendment 1"), to provide dedicated state funding for land and water conservation, and 'ecosystem management, and restoration. This effort passed with 75 percent voter approval on the 2014 ballot. In 2004, TPL worked with Indian River County and land conservation advocates in the community design and win voter approval for a $50 million bond that has funded the county's successful land conservation program. The measure passed with 67 percent "Yes." Most recently, in November 2018, TPL was four for four, winning voter approval for all of bond referenda we supported: Sarasota County ($65 million) and the Cities of Cape Coral ($150 million), New Smyrna Beach ($15 million), and Doral ($60 million). The total new funding for conservation and parks in Florida that TPL has helped to generate well exceeds $10 billion. Conservation funding is a very tangible step communities can take to guide land use, manage growth, provide recreation amenities, and protect natural landscapes and critical ecosystems. Given the substantial investment of time and resources required to develop and implement a public funding strategy, TPL employs our tried and true. conservation finance methodology of sound research 76