Preservation in the News

Anyone who has walked the North Flatwood Loop Trail in DuPont State Forest on a crisp, sunny winter morning when it’s nearly deserted, or any of a number of other trails of our state and national forests, won’t need convincing of the need to preserve special places in North Carolina from development.

Serenaded by Shoals Creek, splashing and gurgling beside the trail, it’s possible to almost feel the stress of hectic holidays melt away. The beauty and serenity of the natural world feed some essential part of the human spirit.

Once, many of us in Western North Carolina only had to walk a few steps outside our back doors to view unobstructed landscapes and find forest trails to meander. But as the population increases, that’s no longer true for most people. To satisfy the need for wild places and for outdoor recreation, people increasingly turn to public lands. It’s easy for popular trails to be overrun, as has happened in the Shining Rock Wilderness area.

Incredible growth

The U.S. Census Bureau expects North Carolina’s population to surpass that of urban states like Michigan and Ohio by 2030. Each year the state is losing 100,000 acres to population pressures. If we hope to retain the interaction with the natural world that has long defined our way of life, steps must be taken to preserve more land from development.

Last year the General Assembly created a Land and Water Conservation Commission to examine options to protect North Carolina’s natural and historic beauty. The commission is to make its recommendations no later than Feb. 1, 2007.

Meeting tonight

The first of three statewide public hearings held by the commission will be tonight at 7 p.m. in the Laurel Building on the Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College campus. This is an important meeting for those who care about preserving water quality, land for recreational opportunities and the natural beauty of our region’s landscapes. The commission was created after the Legislature failed to put a $1 billion statewide land and water conservation bond referendum on the ballot for last fall’s election.

Despite numerous sponsors, the referendum ran into trouble because Gov. Mike Easley opposed adding general obligation bond debt this year.

Land for Tomorrow, founded by a group of farm preservation, conservation and community development non-profits, proposed the bond referendum.

Land for Tomorrow proposes spending the $1 billion over five years to protect nine different land types: Stream banks and floodplains; working farms; working forests; urban forests; local parks and recreation; state parks; game lands; historic places; land visible from scenic highways such as the Blue Ridge Parkway. Such efforts have a major economic component for a region like ours, so heavily dependent on tourism. They add enormously to the quality of life and that helps attract mobile entrepreneurs, retirees and others who contribute to our economic well being.

Take advantage of this opportunity to help shape our future by going to the meeting tonight and making your voice heard.