Virginia Land Conservation Foundation Budget
Virginia Conservation Network supports the Governor’s Amendment #10, which directly appropriates $3.5M from the general fund for the preservation of historic tribal lands of the Chickahominy Tribe. Supported by VCN’s previous budget statements, the amendment removes language requiring the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation (VLCF) to reserve $3.5M for this project. We are thankful that the Governor maintained the original $10M allocation for the VLCF that the General Assembly approved in the 2020 Special Session.
The original budget passed by the House & Senate “set aside” VLCF funds for the preservation project. While the acquisition of protected land by the Chickahominy Tribe is important, diverting VLCF funds for special projects is contrary to the fundamental nature of VLCF as a competitive grant program. It would set a bad precedent for earmarking future projects, potentially preventing a fair process for communities around the state to compete for these dollars.
The VLCF grant round announced in February was oversubscribed by over $7M, and the pre-application round completed in December demonstrated a need of $80M. We will continue to advocate for increased funding for this program in the future. For now, we thank the Governor for his amendment to support full funding of the VLCF, and respectfully request that the General Assembly support the Governor’s amendment.
Supporting Organizations
This bughet amendment has broad support from our conservation partners, including the Chickahominy Tribe. To see the Chickahominy Tribe’s letter of support, click below: