- January 23, 2026
In 2020, the citizens of Volusia County stepped up to protect local sources of clean drinking water and the land around our lagoon, springs, rivers and lakes that holds flood waters. They understood that we need wild places that are home to the delicate interconnected systems of soil, plants, insects, and animals whose survival is key to our own. They found value in the serenity of passive recreation in nature that everyone can enjoy. They wanted local farmers to be able to keep their land in agriculture rather than see it fall to development. Because more than three quarters (75.6%) of those who voted in the 2020 election recognized the vital importance of our natural and working lands to our current and future well-being, they agreed to protect those lands forever by reauthorizing our award-winning local land conservation program, Volusia Forever. But on Jan. 8th, the Volusia County Council listed taking the “forever” out of the program as one of their potential goals for 2026, and at the Feb. 3 County Council meeting, they will consider making additional changes that, if enacted, will turn the program into something very different from what we voted for.
Volusia County has a long, proud history of conservation, a value that is growing with each new generation. In 1986, we were the first county in the nation to vote to tax ourselves to buy environmentally important land and care for it in perpetuity. That was the Endangered Lands program. We did it again in 2000 when we voted for the first Volusia Forever to begin protecting important local areas like Long Leaf Pine Preserve, a biodiversity hot spot; the Volusia Conservation Corridor, part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor; and more. In 2020, we voted for a third time to continue the Volusia Forever mission. Throughout our 40-year conservation history, Volusia County Councils have supported Volusia Forever.
Volusia Forever is funded by an ad valorem property tax of up to 20 cents on every $1,000 of taxable property value. A home with a tax-appraised value of $275,000 pays just $55 a year or about 15 cents a day. The program has built on prior conservation experience. We know what has made Volusia Forever successful and we are concerned to see some of those key features up for modification or elimination by our current County Council — things like the criteria that identify the land we seek to protect and, importantly, that allow us to partner with premier state programs like Florida Forever and the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. Since 2020, partners have provided $4 for every $1 we’ve invested. That is a tremendous return on our tax dollars.
Another key aspect is the bonding authority. Recently, the County Council decided not to pursue the idea of bonds. We voted to allow Volusia Forever to issue up to $60 million in bonds over the 20-year life of the program. To not take advantage of this option is fiscally irresponsible. Currently there are properties in the pipeline whose total value exceeds the funds collected since 2020. Property values are rising faster than bond rates. If Volusia Forever uses its bonding ability, it can buy those properties now, at today’s prices, rather than paying more in the future. Both partnerships and bonding were successful features of the original Volusia Forever. In addition to buying land outright, Volusia Forever works with land owners to place conservation easements on working lands, like farms. The property owner agrees to sell the rights to develop the land but retains ownership for agriculture, continuing to farm it. Conservation easements are perpetual and are an extremely valuable tool in maintaining Volusia County’s agricultural traditions, however, the Council may discontinue the use of conservation easements because of their perpetual nature.
Other key features of Volusia Forever are the citizen advisory committee, which evaluates potential land acquisitions and makes recommendations to the County Council; the appraisal process that uses licensed, independent appraisers; the Volusia Forever Dashboard, which provides information on land acquired or on the list for acquisition; and the yearly audit.
To date, Volusia Forever has protected approximately 63,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land. In total, Volusia County has about 257,000 acres of conservation land, including Federal land, like Canaveral National Seashore, state land like Tomoka State Park, and county and private conservation lands, all of which add up to about 37% of the county’s area. Several organizations have suggested that to meet future needs for water, flood control, agriculture, and biodiversity we should protect about 50% of our land, carefully selected for its environmental value, through a combination of government and private investment. However, that goal has not been formalized by local government. To ensure the most vital areas are protected, we hope you will let your County Council members know that you wish to keep Volusia Forever as it is, protecting our most vital lands in a fiscally sound way, FOREVER.
Melissa Lammers is the vice chair of the ECHO Volusia Forever Alliance, formerly the political action committee that ran the campaign for the reauthorization of Volusia Forever and ECHO. The alliance is composed of architects of the original ECHO and Volusia Forever resolutions and programs, former Volusia County Council members, former and current ECHO and Volusia Forever advisory board members, environmental and land-use attorneys and leaders from civic organization.
