Using the money well (both the county’s NAPP and the city’s greenbelt fund) is what I’m referring to: as prices drop, waiting to purchase properties or not purchasing them at all if development pressure doesn’t return. Owners might get anxious and sell, but speculators wouldn’t be able to hold properties for long as values keep dropping. Establishing an endowment for maintenance might be in order.

Of course, along the way, foreclosures and donations are likely to increase land conservancy and public ownership of land.

Yes, any program should be subject to intermittent evaluation. But this is one that I would like to see continue with its successes as long as the money voted in to support it is used well. (Note that this is different from the city Greenbelt program. The allocation of those resources is open to debate, as it is partitioned between city and outside our borders. The county millage was approved by a good margin across the county for this one purpose.)

BTW: I HOPE that these parcels are not subject to mineral exploitation, i.e. fracking.

First, I don’t agree that demand for farmland will decrease. In fact, a minority of the Federal Reserve governors have noted that there is a danger of a bubble in farmland because of the desperation of investors who are searching for yield. The artificial depression of interest on capital is causing people to look at assets that might appreciate, and farmland is one of them.

Second, while we may be heading toward a worldwide deflation, we are also experiencing resource depletion. This extends to food. I reviewed this in part of a recent series of posts [link] (alas, like so many of my series, yet to be completed). We are fortunate to live in an area where local food production is possible and is being supported by our local choices, including the protection of farmland.

The argument for preservation of natural areas (which typically contain important communities of plants and animals) is more subtle and less economic. As a biologist and environmentalist, I value these communities for themselves, apart from any putative economic value (“undiscovered drugs for dread diseases”, etc.). But there is solid research that shows our own mental health is improved by exposure to the natural world.

Thanks to the County, and especially to Bob Tetens, for preserving these valuable resources.

Good job everyone!

I thought the B2B piece to connect Dexter to Dexter-Huron was paid for in previous years.