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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: October 15, 2024 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-b <br /> SUBJECT: Proclamation Recognizing 25 Years of Orange County Conservation Initiatives / <br /> Great Trails State Day <br /> DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks <br /> and Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Proclamation David Stancil, 919-245-2522 <br /> Flyer for October 19, 2024 Event Christian Hirni, 919-245-2514 <br /> PURPOSE: To approve a proclamation recognizing the 25t" anniversary of implementation of a <br /> series of conservation initiatives by Orange County, including the creation of the (then) <br /> Environment and Resource Conservation Department and the Lands Legacy Program; as well as <br /> the celebration of Great Trails State Day on October 19, 2024. <br /> BACKGROUND: Based on a request by former Commissioner Alice Gordon at the Board's May <br /> 21, 2024 Business meeting, staff has worked to develop a commemoration of twenty-five (25) <br /> years of the following actions from 1998/99: <br /> • Creation of an environmental department to focus on natural and cultural resource <br /> conservation and preservation initiatives and programs. The department was officially <br /> approved in June 1998 and established on January 4, 1999. (The Orange Soil and Water <br /> Conservation District became part of this agency in 2006, and it became the Department <br /> of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation in April 2010); and <br /> • A program to protect and conserve the most important natural and cultural resource lands <br /> as well as future parks and public open space lands was also approved in concept in 1999 <br /> and implemented as the Lands Legacy Program on April 4, 2000. <br /> In addition to these commemorations, Orange County - as a member of the Great Trails State <br /> Coalition - will be celebrating Great Trails State Day on Saturday, October 19, 2024. <br /> Today, twenty-five (25) years after creation, the Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks <br /> and Recreation is comprised of thirty-five (35) full-time staff which address conservation, <br /> preservation, and the provision of parks, open space and trails, and recreational opportunities for <br /> County residents. The Department also serves as staff support to four (4) volunteer advisory <br /> boards (the Commission for the Environment, the Parks and Recreation Council, the Agricultural <br /> Preservation Board, and the Historic Preservation Commission) and provides lead administrative <br />