Hunters and environmental groups often are at loggerheads over use of lands and streams, but such diverse groups are in sync on a Senate bill aimed at paying property owners to preserve their land.

With one dissenting vote, the Senate Economic Development Committee agreed Tuesday on the proposed Voluntary Rural and Outdoor Heritage Conservation Act.

One panelist, Sen. Karen Facemeyer, R-Jackson, cast the only opposition vote, saying before the showdown on SB622 that it wasn’t clear to her exactly why landowners would be paid for conservation easements.

To create a fund to pay for them, the bill would raise to $20 the fee paid on property transfers, an increase that is projected to generate $2 million. Twice that much had been anticipated in the original fee change to $40.

Beth Wheatley, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy in West Virginia, said the intent is to provide a means of investing in conserving “special places in West Virginia.”

“These lands that are important to West Virginia for agriculture, forestry, recreation and other uses,” she said.

The idea is to divvy the fund so half goes to farmland preservation and the other 50 percent is dedicated to forest lands, wildlife habits and properties considered to be historically important, Wheatley explained.

Given the debate over how to fund the program, Wheatley said afterward, the funding mechanism remains up for discussion since the bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.

“The Nature Conservancy and the interests we’re working with are committed to working with the senators and delegates to determine a funding mechanism that makes sense,” she said.

Hunting groups and conservation interests are on board with the bill’s objective, and it was noted that fishing, hunting and similar wildlife pursuits provide West Virginia’s economy some $800 million annually.

“With this kind of return on investment, we think lawmakers recognize the benefits of investing state dollars in land conservation,” said Larry Orr of the West Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited.

Rod Graves, a retired farmer in Monroe County and a member of the Monroe County Farmland Protection Board, who appeared briefly before the panel, said in a statement the conservation of land is “a win-win.”

“Land conservation gives landowners, communities and the state choices when deciding the future of land important to our economy and our quality of life.”

Wheatley said money would be paid to landowners for conservation easements for a perpetual use of their property in its existing usage.

“Many landowners will take the funding from purchasing of an easement and reinvest it into their land to allow them to continue to capitalize on land assets,” she said.