Preservation in the News

By JERRY STENSLAND Daily Courier Staff Writer

LAKE LURE — If money were not a factor, what would you want preserved in Rutherford County; in North Carolina?

That question formed the core of a new statewide initiative seeking to protect those things many of state residents highlight as special; those rivers, mountains, farms and historic places that we love to show off when people visit.

The initiative, called Land for Tomorrow, sought to document those places worth preserving without regard to money. But money always matters and the groups says it will take $200 million a year over the next five years to make it happen.

Land for Tomorrow Director Kate Dixon was in Rutherford County Tuesday for a brief visit and discussed the initiative, which has the ultimate goal of passing a bond referendum as part of the November 2006 general election ballot.

Dixon was visiting her friends and former Raleigh neighbors Lynn and Tom Padgett who moved to Rutherford County.

The Padgett’s helped arrange for Dixon to get a brief tour of the area, taking in the view from Chimney Rock Park while talking about a proposed state park here with the Upper Broad River Watershed Protection Plan’s Clint Calhoun and others.

Dixon said projects like the proposed state park in Hickory Nut Gorge and preserving the Overmountain Victory Trail are a perfect fit as beneficiaries of the project because the local desire is there, but the only thing missing is the funding.

If the referendum does get on the ballot and is passed, it would not create a new bureaucracy but would instead boost existing trust funds.

“We really like the state’s funding program with the trust funds,” said Dixon who was traveling between Asheboro and Asheville for meetings. “It generates a lot of community involvement. I used to work for the Triangle Land Conservancy and have watched the conservation community grow over the last 13 years and I think that has a lot to do with the Clean Water Management Trust Fund giving grants directly to local governments and non-profits. It has generated so much local initiative.”

The other trusts funds that stand to benefit from the initiative include the Natural Heritage Trust Fund, Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund.

The idea for the initiative grew out of several conservation organizations banding together in recent years and studying models of statewide preservation done elsewhere.

“A core group of those organizations came together about two-and-a-half years ago now and decided ‘Let’s do something bigger,’” she said.

A $100,000 grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation kick-started the effort, allowing the group to do polling, focus groups and interviews to see what the public wanted.

That survey formed the basis for a document published in June which lays out what it will take to preserve those “places that matter.”

The categories of interest include:

n Rivers, wetlands, floodplains and coastal waters;

n Working farms;

n Working forests;

n Local parks and trails;

n State parks and trails;

n Game lands and natural areas;

n Urban forests;

n Land visible from scenic highways; and,

n Historic places;

The project is broader than most conservation efforts because it pulls in farms, timberlands and historic sites. The goals are also broad, encompassing economic development, tourism, public health and quality of life.

The study, available at the group’s website (www.landfortomorrow.org), quantifies the “funding gap” between current and needed funding.

That gap, estimated at $3.2 billion over five years, can be filled by the $1 billion state investment, Dixon says.

“Based on trust-funds’ experience in leveraging other funds, we believe this gap can be filled by an additional $1 billion from state,” she said.

For the referendum to be on the ballot, the North Carolina General Assembly must authorize it. All legislators have been spoken to at least once, says Dixon, but the upcoming 2006 short session will be the target for getting the bills passed and getting the initiative to the voters.

“We have done a tremendous amount of educating and there is a lot of interest in the legislature on this issue,” she said. “The challenge is going to be, ‘How is the bond going to paid back.’ That is the work to be done over the next six months to figure out what that source will be.”

The group is pushing for the establishment of local committees to help push for the initiative to be on the ballot and to speak to local voters about which local projects could benefit.

“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done in that regard and that is why we are wanting the county committees formed so it stops becoming a Raleigh thing and it starts to be something people all across North Carolina know about it and can educate about it,” said Dixon.

The steering committee is made up of representatives from the following organizations: American Farmland Trust, Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Land Loss Prevention Project, N.C. Community Development Initiative, N.C. Public Interest Research Group, N.C. Recreation and Park Association, Preservation N.C., The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy N.C. Chapter and The Trust for Public Land.

Dixon said there are now 90 partner organizations signed on as well as a number of prominent individual ambassadors including three former governors: Jim Holshouser, Jim Hunt, Jim Martin.