The Portland Press Herald reported (http://bit.ly/1MuSKVW ) John Bott, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, says the state opted not to request federal Forest Legacy funding for fiscal year 2017.

Bott says the state is still implementing three projects that have already been approved for funding and a fourth is awaiting a decision from the federal agency.

The state has been awarded more than $75 million in Forest Legacy funds since 1990 to work with private landowners to protect about 750,000 acres from development. It has submitted applications to the program every year since at least 2001.