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4 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> PROCLAMATION <br /> Recognition of 25 Years of Conservation Initiatives by County <br /> Government / Great Trails State Day 2024 <br /> WHEREAS, the year 2024 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the approval and <br /> formation of conservation initiatives including the creation of the County's Environment <br /> and Resource Conservation Department (now the Department of Environment, <br /> Agriculture, Parks, and Recreation), and creation of a program for conservation and <br /> protection of the County's most important natural and cultural resource lands (which <br /> became the Lands Legacy Program); and <br /> WHEREAS, the new department was tasked with the purposes of 1) Overseeing, <br /> implementing, and coordinating County goals for environmental protection and resource <br /> conservation; 2) Developing and implementing a program for the acquisition and <br /> management of land for resource conservation; 3) Integrating current and future natural <br /> and cultural resource data into a Comprehensive Resource Database; 4) Providing staff <br /> support to Commissions and Boards; and 5) Working collaboratively with other <br /> departments and agencies on resource conservation; and <br /> WHEREAS, the department was staffed with existing and new positions with expertise in <br /> environmental planning, landscape architecture and park design, land conservation, <br /> water resource conservation, and cultural resource conservation (historic and agricultural <br /> preservation); and <br /> WHEREAS, the subsequent development of the Lands Legacy Program was created and <br /> approved as a comprehensive initiative in April 2000, implementing the goal of a program <br /> working with willing landowners for the conservation, acquisition and management of <br /> important lands for natural and cultural resources; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Lands Legacy Program has since been successful in the conservation <br /> of approximately 1,114 acres for eight current or future parks, and holds conservation <br /> easements on approximately 2,973 acres, with over 2,300 of these acres protecting active <br /> farms; and <br /> WHEREAS, in these 25 years, the Lands Legacy Program has received over $6.1 million <br /> dollars in federal and state match grant funds aiding in the acquisition of the above, <br /> working with a variety of conservation partners and willing landowners; and <br />