Eagle Tribune: Green groups unite behind Question 6

BOSTON — Dozens of green groups are backing a ballot proposal that would carve out money from the state’s sales taxes on sporting goods and other outdoor equipment for open space and wildlife preservation.

Question 6, which will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, calls for allocating $100 million for a “Nature for All Fund” used to conserve or restore land to protect drinking water, rivers and farms.

The Yes on 6 Committee, a panel backing the effort, said the proposal is now supported by more than 100 environmental, conservation, and community organizations, including leading nonprofit land and water conservation groups, as well as dozens of local nonprofits.

Mass Audubon’s Sam Anderson, who chairs the ballot committee, said the fund will protect the environment and create more outdoor recreational spaces, such as trails and parks, without raising taxes.

“That exciting possibility is bringing more and more organizations to the table every week, allowing us to communicate with hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents about how Question 6 will generate as much as $100 million each year to protect our clean drinking water, parks, and nature for all — without raising taxes,” he said.

Supporters collected more than 122,000 signatures from voters who support the measure, and cleared several other hurdles in the qualifying process.

In August, organizers of the effort got a big boost after Gov. Maura Healey endorsed the ballot question and participated in a rally with environmental groups at Hammond Pond in Newton, where she urged voters to get behind the measure.

Massachusetts has a long tradition of devoting public funding to land conservation, with the state and nonprofit groups aggressively targeting undeveloped land to preserve space.

A 1972 amendment to the state Constitution, approved by 82% of voters, gave the state Legislature the authority to purchase land — by eminent domain or otherwise — for conservation, recreation or open space. It set a two-thirds vote requirement for lawmakers to make changes to protections.

The amendment declares that land preservation is considered a “public purpose” by the state government and that “people have the right to clean air and water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic qualities of their environment.”

The 2023 Public Lands Preservation Act, which was signed by then-Gov. Charlie Baker, enshrined a “no net-loss” policy requiring that when the state lifts conservation restrictions on a piece of land it will be replaced with a parcel of an “equal value” somewhere else.

Meanwhile, groups like Audubon and the Trustees of Reservations have purchased thousands of acres of land over the decades for conservation and habitat for wildlife.

Christian M. Wade covers Massachusetts state government and politics for CNHI News and North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.