January 12, 2006

By Diane Chiddister

Crested Butte is a tiny town in south central Colorado surrounded by beautiful mountain vistas. The town relies on tourism to survive, and those breathtaking views enhance the town’s appeal to visitors, according to one Crested Butte resident.

In September, the Colorado town celebrated the first $1 million raised by 1 Percent for Open Space, a fundraising program that has contributed to the preservation of 3,000 acres of open space.

The program is almost identical to 1 Percent for Green Space, the Tecumseh Land Trust’s program that kicked off this month in Yellow Springs.

The Crested Butte program has made a significant impact, Molly Murfee, the program’s director, said in a phone interview this week.

“Right around Crested Butte is open space, so that we see a big open valley, not endless tracts of homes,” she said. “For our tourism-driven economy, it’s very important to preserve the reason that people come here.”

The 1 percent program began in 1997 with only one business taking part in the effort, in which customers of participating businesses have the option of contributing 1 percent of the price of their purchase to the preservation of open space. Now, about 70 businesses, including restaurants, retail stores, doctors’ offices and a resort, take part, and the money for open space keeps coming, Murfee said.

“It’s amazing,” she said of the $1 million raised. “It was collected 30 cents at a time.”

Starting this month, Yellow Springs shoppers also have the opportunity to contribute pennies that could eventually add up to $1 million for land preservation.

The program, 1 Percent for Green Space, is a collaboration between Tecumseh Land Trust, local businesses and their customers to collect donations that will go to a fund specifically earmarked for the preservation of open space in Yellow Springs and Miami Township.

Ten businesses are involved in the program, although organizers hope that more will join. The businesses are Arthur Morgan Bed and Breakfast, Epic Book Shop, Gemini World Music and Art, Greenleaf Gardens, Little Art Theatre, Rita Caz Jewelry Studio, Springs Motel, Selwa’s Hairstyling, Yellow Springs News and Yellow Springs Psychological Center.

Participating businesses offer customers the chance to add a 1 percent donation to each transaction and pass the donation on to TLT. The program is voluntary for both the businesses and their customers.

That the program has proved successful in Crested Butte is no surprise to TLT board member Bob Barcus, who has worked to organize the effort.

“People do it because it warms their heart,” he said. “If you give people an easy opportunity to do something consistent with their values, they’ll do it.”

A poll taken in downtown Yellow Springs recently about the program indicated that both villagers and out-of-town visitors would view 1 Percent for Green Space very favorably, according to Barcus. Of the 94 people surveyed, 60 percent said the program would make them view Yellow Springs more favorably, 89 percent said they would participate in the program with small purchases, and 61 percent said they would participate with all purchases.

Fifty-five percent of the respondents stated that they would be more likely to shop at a business because it participated in 1 Percent for Green Space, while 4 percent said they would be less likely.

“Some people won’t like it,” Barcus said. “But not many.”

While some business owners have expressed concern that participating in the program might drive away customers, the poll results and the experience in Crested Butte indicate that participation would make a business more popular, Barcus said.

Springs Motel owner Eric Clark was the first business owner to participate in the program when he conducted a trial run last summer. Clark said he wanted to try it because he felt skeptical and was worried that the extra contribution would seem to tourists like a “heavy-handed” way of raising funds for green space. He said he also questioned why TLT, and not other area nonprofits, should benefit.

But Clark said he cares deeply about preserving local lands, so he took it on, modifying the 1 percent donation to a half percent, which he added on to state and motel taxes to bring customers’ taxes to an even 10 percent.

“What surprised me,” he said, “is that it seemed to work from the get-go.”

About 199 out of every 200 customers choose to pay the extra half percent, Clark said, a rate of participation much higher than he expected.

People seem pleased to participate, he said. “People say, ‘that’s a neat idea,’ ” Clark said.

Several participating business owners interviewed last week said they are enthusiastic about the opportunity to join the land preservation effort.

Gail Lichtenfels, who owns Epic Book Shop, said she appreciates that 1 Percent for Green Space will spark discussion about the issue between local business people and their customers.

“It brings the issue into daily conversations,” she said. “It’s a good move for social awareness.”

As a Miami Township trustee, Rita Caz owner Mark Crockett has been working with Tecumseh Land Trust to help preserve township farms through the acquisition of easements.

The trustees have a farmland preservation fund, funded by estate taxes, which contributes about $100,000 a year toward the purchase of easements, he said. That amount buys about one easement per year, said Krista Magaw, the executive director of TLT. More revenue is needed to make a significant impact on farmland preservation, Crockett said.

“Anything short of purchasing an easement is temporary and subject to change,” he said. “If you can purchase an easement for a farm, it will stay a farm forever.”

Even though the new program adds an extra bit of work for the staff of Rita Caz, Crockett said he believes the effort is worth it.

Ken Simon, the owner of Gemini World Music and Art, said he appreciates the opportunity to use his business to support issues he believes in.

“I don’t know that it’s good for my business, but I believe that it’s good for me,” he said.

The 1 Percent for Green Space program comes at a critical time for local land preservation efforts, Magaw said.

“It’s time to regroup on our green space plans,” she said.

This month the TLT board of directors is beginning to work on identifying which land parcels in Yellow Springs and Miami Township are priorities for preservation. In the past four years, the group has focused on purchasing easements for farmland in area townships through state and federal grants, but has not been specifically focused on Miami Township. TLT has protected 5,000 acres of land in that time, and about 8,500 acres, including Whitehall Farm, since its inception, Magaw said.

TLT hopes now to work with both Village Council and the Miami Township trustees on finding ways to preserve Yellow Springs and Miami Township parcels that are identified as priorities, she said. Last month, Council voted to add all the profit from the sale of an acre of the Glass Farm to the Village green space fund. Council members said the move signaled Council’s intention to begin to replenish the fund.

Of special interest for preservation are parcels that were identified in 1970 in the Village Comprehensive Plan as part of the Jacoby Greenbelt to the west of Yellow Springs, Magaw said.

While many villagers believe that the greenbelt has been preserved, most of it has not and is still vulnerable to development, she said. Of the 23 properties identified in the Jacoby Greenbelt, four have been preserved, according to Magaw.

“There’s a lot of holes,” she said.

Part of the challenge in preserving land in the Jacoby Greenbelt has been that much of it is not farmland, making it “not a good fit” for state and federal programs that fund farm easements, Magaw said. In addition, since the Whitehall effort in 1999, the Village green space fund has remained low, and the Village government has taken a less active role in preservation efforts.

Council’s recent move to replenish the fund bodes well for preservation efforts, since a local government’s commitment to green space helps to attract state and federal matching funds, Magaw said.

“If we have the local government, it makes all the difference in the world,” she said.

For Barcus, the possibility of development encroaching on the western edge of Yellow Springs motivates his participation in 1 Percent for Green Space.

“I live here because I like being in a small rural town, and I’ve seen how quickly that rural character can change, like in Beavercreek,” he said. “For us to preserve some semblance of what we have, we need money. Good will alone is not enough.”

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com