Nature groups say ballot proposal would tap $100 million from Mass. sales tax for conservation

A coalition of more than 60 conservation and nature groups say a proposed ballot question for next year’s election could raise more than $100 million to help preserve natural areas and create more outdoor recreational spaces in Massachusetts, including trails and parks.

Supporters have dubbed the ballot question the “Protect Water and Nature” initiative. It would direct state taxes collected on the sale and use of sporting goods, recreational vehicles and golf courses to a fund dedicated to natural resource conservation.

Jodi Valenta, Massachusetts director for the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, pointed to Georgia, where voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 to create a similar conservation funding source that taps existing excise taxes on sporting goods.

The amendment passed in Georgia with nearly 83% of 3.8 million votes cast, according to data from the state.

“These issues — clean water, access to nature, outdoor recreation — are supported and unite people across both geographic and political lines,” Valenta told WBUR outside the State House on Monday morning.

If passed in Massachusetts, a fund created by the proposed ballot question would receive half the state taxes collected for outdoor-related sales in its first year of implementation.

From the second year onward, the fund would receive all taxes generated by the sale or use of sporting goods, recreational vehicles and golf courses. The fund would not take sales tax revenue earmarked for the MBTA or a school construction trust fund.

The state collected more than $9 billion in total sales and use taxes in fiscal year 2025, data shows. The campaign behind the ballot question said consumers in Massachusetts spent nearly $2.5 billion in the sporting goods category in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.

Supporters of the question said they collected more than 100,000 signatures ahead of the ballot initiative deadline last month. More than 90,000 of the signatures were certified by city and town clerks, according to the campaign’s spokesperson, Andrew Farnitano.

Secretary of State William Galvin’s office is now tasked with reviewing the signatures before handing the potential ballot question over to the Legislature.

Katie Theoharides, an energy and environmental affairs secretary under former Gov. Charlie Baker who now leads The Trustees of Reservations, said Boston has “some of the lowest green space in the country.”

The ballot question would allow the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to spend tax money on protecting drinking water, rivers, streams, lakes, coasts, farms, forests and connectivity between open spaces, as well as on lands and natural resources of indigenous cultural significance.

Officials also could spend money on the creation, improvement and management of parks, trails, green spaces or other outdoor recreation areas, according to a summary of the proposal prepared by the attorney general’s office.

“There's work to do all across our state, to protect natural resources, to protect our water, our air, and to work on climate resilience solutions,” Theoharides said. “In Massachusetts, outdoor recreation is a $13 billion industry, and it's time that that industry supported conservation across our state.”