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The Nature Conservancy Applauds Governor Strickland for Renewed Investment in the Clean Ohio Fund

Administration seeks $400 million for preservation of farms, open spaces and environmental restoration projects

DUBLIN, OHIO — February 6, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy today applauded Ohio Governor Ted Strickland for his bold plan to invest $400 million in the Clean Ohio fund, a successful bond program that to date has protected over 26,000 acres of wildlife habitat, more than 20,000 acres of farmland, created 216 miles of recreational trails and cleaned up more than 140 abandoned industrial sites.

“We commend Governor Strickland for his commitment to the successful Clean Ohio fund. The fund is a highly effective tool for the state and local communities to protect our natural areas and farms, provide healthy recreation opportunities, and create new jobs,” said Denise Franz King, director of government relations for The Nature Conservancy in Ohio. “This renewed investment in Clean Ohio will continue to help the state protect the lands and waters that people and nature rely on. Future generations will thank us for making an investment now to clean up contaminated industrial sites and protect clean drinking water.”

Created in 2000 and approved by voters, Clean Ohio is financed through the sale of government bonds. The response from local communities has been so strong that they have matched dollar-for-dollar on the state investment, when only a 25 percent match is required. In fact, there is at least one Clean Ohio project in 86 of the state’s 88 counties. The new investment in the Clean Ohio Fund is part of a $1.7 billion economic stimulus package, proposed by Governor Strickland today in his State of the State address. The plan aims to create 80,000 new jobs.

Clean Ohio has gone beyond protecting publicly accessible natural areas.  It is helping neighborhoods renovate and reuse brownfields—which not only creates new jobs, but also puts them back on the local tax rolls to help fund schools and police protection. Clean Ohio has been responsible for the creation of more than 6,000 new jobs.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.