HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County commissioners voted Tuesday to dedicate $80,000 in Marcellus Shale revenue toward the county’s farmland preservation program, which has become the region’s leader of the initiative.

Conservation District Director Donna Fisher announced the achievement during the weekly commissioners meeting and distributed a report showing Blair County with 50 farms and 7,560 acres in the preservation program.

Neighboring Centre County previously has been recognized as a the region’s leader, but in the latest report, Centre County showed 48 farms and 7,290 acres in its program.

“We are now clearly in front … and we’re not looking back,” Fisher said.

Since 1991, when Blair County initiated its farmland preservation program, it has regularly maintained a waiting list of property owners interested in committing their acreage to farm-related uses in exchange for a payment.

The county’s current waiting list has 18 farms, Fisher told commissioners when asking them to allocate money toward the 2018 program. As the end of 2017, the program had about $21,000 remaining, which wouldn’t be enough to pursue additional acreage.

Commissioner Terry Tomassetti suggested an $80,000 allocation from the county’s Marcellus Shale revenue account to support the county’s farmland preservation program in 2018. At the end of 2017, Tomassetti said that account had $126,378, and in 2018, it will probably receive $60,000 to $80,000 in revenue.

That suggestion drew supportive votes from fellow commissioners Bruce Erb and Ted Beam Jr.

Erb mentioned that lawmakers left Marcellus Shale fees intact, which puts the county in a position to consider the allocation for farmland preservation.

“I strongly support this,” Erb said.

“Obviously the Marcellus Shale money has been a godsend,” Tomassetti said. “It has allowed us to provide significant allocations without burdening our taxpayers.”

Since 2013, Tomassetti said the county has dedicated $490,000 in Marcellus Shale revenue toward its farmland preservation program, which includes the $80,000 approved for 2018.

Fisher said Tuesday that the state, in February, will allocate its farmland preservation money to counties based on a county’s financial commitment to the program. Fisher said she expects the $80,000 allocation will draw about $320,000 in state funds.

If that happens, Fisher said the county will be in a position to add one or two more farms to the county’s program in 2018. The ones selected, she said, will be based on a ranking that reflects the quality of soil and the acreage’s location.

There’s no shortage of interest in the program, Fisher said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.