May 20, 2013
Alabama voters will decide on Nov. 6 whether to continue a 20-year-old program that has allowed the state to buy 220,000 acres of public land to be used for hunting, fishing, birding and other activities.
It's the second time Alabama residents have been asked to vote on Forever Wild.
The first was in 1992, when voters authorized the state to buy wilderness lands.
Forever Wild was approved with 83 percent of votes in the 1992 referendum.
It uses earnings from oil and gas revenue in the Alabama Trust Fund and does not take funds from the General Fund or education budgets.
Former state conservation commissioner Barnett Lawley said the program has allowed the state to buy lands for uses ranging from birding to field dog competitions.
