Georgia’s farmlands, like Hyde Farm in Cobb County, pictured here, are threatened by out-ofcontrol development. The state lacks strong incentives for landowners to preserve our open spaces.

With the metro Atlanta region losing 54 acres of trees every day to overdevelopment, Georgia PIRG is launching a new campaign to urge lawmakers to establish stronger preservation incentives for private landowners.

The problem affects more than just metro Atlanta—Georgia’s open spaces, from the Appalachian Mountains to the coastal marshes, are succumbing to the fifth fastest growth rate in the country.

Big box stores, shopping centers, highways and parking lots are replacing forests, farmland and wetlands that provide clean drinking water and recreation.

“Open spaces are key to filtering the runoff pollution that contaminates our rivers, lakes and streams,” said Jill Johnson, Georgia PIRG advocate.

Too much development can take away from the overall quality of life in our communities. Encroaching development puts more financial pressure on families trying to hold onto privately owned farmland and forests.

In July 2004, Gov. Perdue’s Land Conservation Advisory Council released an extensive report containing eight recommendations to more effectively protect open spaces, including a Land Conservation Income Tax Credit. A similar program in North Carolina has enabled the state to preserve land worth $304 million at a cost to the state of no more than $28 million over the past 22 years.

Georgia PIRG is meeting with legislators over the summer to garner support for a bill to establish a Land Conservation Tax Credit. We are hosting town hall meetings across the state and talking with families concerned about protecting open space they own or they know of in their communities.