A presidential race, a U.S. Senate race and an avalanche of ballot measures that would do everything from legalize marijuana to end California’s death penalty are drawing most of the attention as Election Day nears.

But across California, a record $4.1 billion in ballot measures to preserve parks and open space are also vying for voters’ attention in what could become a wave of green riding the tide of a rebounding economy and record voter turnout.

Environmental groups and developers are closely watching the measures, which could shape the landscape in the Bay Area and Southern California for decades to come by raising new money for trails, parks and open space preserves. Others would impose strict development limits outside existing city boundaries.

“It’s not the sort of thing that’s as dramatic as a presidential election, but it matters,” said Tim Ahern, a spokesman for the Trust for Public Land, an environmental group in San Francisco. “The economy is better. People are feeling like they want to invest.

“And they want a nice park to take their kids to — or to go jogging in or walk their dog. These measures pass in red states and blue states.”

Among the issues that will appear on the ballot Nov. 8 are tax hikes in Los Angeles and San Diego counties that would fund parks and trails, while voters in communities from Monterey to Sonoma counties are weighing in on similar measures.

In Hayward, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo and nearby communities, a $250 million bond would fund parks, playgrounds and trails. And Measure H in Gilroy would put an urban growth boundary around the city, limiting new development on farmland.

Most of the tax measures require a two-thirds majority vote to pass. In many cases, developers and other groups with concerns about the proposals have not mounted formal campaigns, but are urging voters to vote no.

“We all love open space, but where are our kids and grandkids going to live and work? Where are they going to have to move to own a house?” said Lisa Vorderbrueggen, a spokeswoman for the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area, based in Walnut Creek.

Brian Schmidt, program director with the Greenbelt Alliance in San Francisco, countered that there’s plenty of land to build new housing on — and it should be done within existing city limits, particularly near rail and other transit systems to reduce traffic.

“The type of sprawl developments you see in these areas outside city limits are some of the least dense and least affordable housing,” he said. “It does not do much to solve the housing problem in the Bay Area.”

“People want to preserve the scenic beauty,” he added. “They don’t want cities to endlessly sprawl into one another.”

Vorderbrueggen said developers want to build more condominiums, apartments and single family housing in existing cities. But, she said, it can take up to 10 years in some areas to secure all the permits and approvals, often because of opposition from homeowners who don’t want new construction near them.

“It is the hardest type of housing to build,” she said. “There are legitimate concerns with new developments about quality of life in the neighborhood. But time after time when developers try to build dense infill housing, they meet significant opposition.”

Schmidt says his group supports a number of housing measures on Bay Area ballots, including Measure A in Santa Clara County, a $950 million bond to help first-time home buyers, veterans and the homeless find new housing.

In recent years, major open space measures have generally passed. A $23 per parcel tax in 2014 for open space, parks and beaches in Los Angeles County narrowly fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. But in June, 70 percent of voters in the nine Bay Area counties approved a $12 parcel tax for restoration of San Francisco Bay and its wetlands, guaranteeing $500 million over the next 20 years.

A huge turnout in deep blue California, where Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 26 points in the latest poll, combined with the revitalization of the economy means the measures have a tailwind, said Daniel Press, a professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz.

“If you take the advocates of these measures out for a drink, many of them will say they wait for an economy that is doing relatively well and a general election,” Press said. “They want to ride on the coattails of other issues. Right now is probably the best time you can put measures like this on the ballot.”

OPEN SPACE AND PARKS BALLOT MEASURES

On Nov. 8, voters in communities across California will consider $4.1 billion in measures to preserve parks and open space. Among them: