From the iconic Chesapeake Bay to the Piedmont’s rich croplands to the deep forests of the western highlands, Virginia’s diverse natural resources have long sustained the Commonwealth’s economy, the cultural life of our communities and the health and wellbeing of our people. For decades, Virginians have worked to protect these resources; but progress, though real, has been hobbled by unreliable and inadequate funding. Indeed, Virginia ranks in the very bottom tier of the fifty states in terms of general fund dollars committed to natural resources.

Now, as Virginia works to recover from the serious health, economic and justice challenges of 2020, these natural resources programs can play an important role. Ensuring adequate and dedicated funding is an important step.

As mandated by the Constitution, Virginia lawmakers have adopted a myriad of programs designed to protect the Commonwealth’s rich and diverse natural resources. To mention only a few, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan prescribes a detailed plan and timeline for restoration by 2025 that entails significant pollution reduction through improved agricultural practices, wastewater treatment, stormwater and septic management, and other measures. Virginia’s visionary land conservation programs, which help preserve our open spaces, farmlands and forests, include the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation (conserving over 150,000 acres) and the Land Preservation Tax Credit program (conserving approximately 873,000 acres).1

Yet these and other essential natural resources programs have never been adequately or reliably funded. One striking example (among many) is the Virginia agriculture cost-share program which boosts both farmers and water quality by keeping soil on the land and out of streams. Full funding for that program – the most cost-effective program for Bay restoration — would require approximately $100 million every year, but Virginia has never achieved that level (the average annual appropriation from 2010 to 2019 was $28 million).

Moreover, efficient implementation of these essential programs depends on Virginia’s natural resources agencies – among them, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the Marine Resources Commission (MRC) and the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). Yet, for the last 15 years or more, Virginia lawmakers have repeatedly reduced the funding for these agencies, causing a loss of talented staff and a concomitant reduction in the agencies’ ability to fulfill their environmental protection responsibilities. Indeed, a 2017 study demonstrated that Virginia has ranked near the bottom of the 50 states in funding its natural resources programs.

Virginia has many important natural resource programs, and its state agencies bear serious responsibilities to implement them in a manner consistent with the Constitutional mandate. By increasing appropriations to natural resources to two percent of the general fund, we will be able to make significant progress toward cleaner air and water, healthier soils, improved habitats for fish and wildlife, and more lands for Virginians to enjoy. We will also be able to accelerate Virginia’s recovery from the ravages of the pandemic and economic slowdown, and address long standing concerns over environmental injustice.

1 The Path Forward: Investing in Virginia’s Land and Water, VIRGINIAforever, http://virginiaforever.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20190705-VF-FiveYearPlan.pdf (last visited June 30, 2020).

2 Virginia Natural Resources Funding and How It Compares to Other States, Fiscal Analytics, Ltd. (Sept. 2017), http://virginiaforever.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Report_Comparison-of-Natural-Resource-Funding-in-Virginia.pdf.

3 See, e.g., Terance J. Rephann, Economic Impacts of Implementing Agricultural Best Management Practices to Achieve Goals Outlined in Virginia’s Tributary Strategy, Ctr. for Econ. and Pol’y Studies, Weldon Cooper Ctr. for Pub. Serv., U. Va. (Feb. 23, 2010), https://www.cbf.org/document-library/non-cbf-documents/FINAL-Weldon-Cooper-Center-Ag-BMP-report3958.pdf.

4 Virginia’s Return on Investment in Land Conservation, Tr. for Pub. Lands (Aug. 2016), https://www.tpl.org/sites/default/files/VA%20ROI_report.pdf.

5 Virginia’s Outdoor Recreation Economy, Va. Off. of Outdoor Recreation, https://www.governor.virginia.gov/outdoor/ (last visited June 30, 2020).

6 Vincent P. Magnini, Virginia State Parks Economic Impact Report 2018, Pamplin Coll. of Bus. Va. Tech. (Jan. 2019), http://www.virginiaparks.org/document/2018-economic-impact-study.pdf.

7 Spencer Phillips & Beth McGee, The Economic Benefits of Cleaning Up the Chesapeake, Chesapeake Bay Found. (Oct. 2014), https://www.cbf.org/document-library/cbf-reports/FINALBenefitsOfTheBlueprint_Summary20141002e357.pdf.

8 Landings, Nat’l Oceanic & Atmospheric Admin. Fisheries, https://foss.nmfs.noaa.gov/apexfoss/f?p=215:200:::NO::: (last visited June 30, 2020).