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Georgia's governor signed the Greenspace Program into law on April 16, 2000. The program is a voluntary, noncompetitive, county-based program. It provides for awards of formula grants to eligible counties if they develop and implement plans to permanently protect at least 20 percent of the county's geographic area as natural, undeveloped greenspace that furthers one or more of the nine stated goals of the program. Five of the goals address water-quality protection, including flood protection; wetland protection; reduction of erosion; protection of riparian buffers; and water quality protection for rivers, streams, and lakes.
For fiscal year 2001, $30 million has been appropriated for the program. Counties are not required to provide matching funds, but they must commit to providing adequate stewardship of the lands once acquired.
For more information on Georgia's Greenspace Program, see www.ganet.org/ dnr/greenspace/ index.html. 
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