Goal of Preserving One Million Acres
Farther From Reach
As the new home of NCPIRG's environmental work,
Environment North Carolina can be contacted with any questions regarding this
news release.
RALEIGH—Environmental
groups and land trusts criticized House budget-writers Wednesday for reducing
open space preservation funding by 75 percent from what the law requires.
Cuts to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the largest of the state’s
natural resource trust funds, will jeopardize the state’s progress in reaching
its goal of preserving 1 million acres of forests, farmlands, parks and other
open spaces by 2010. Open space preservation is credited with protecting and
restoring drinking water supplies and wildlife habitat.
"Will lawmakers fulfill
their promise to save 1 million acres of our open spaces from development?"
asked Elizabeth Ouzts, NCPIRG Director. "Unless budget leaders restore funding
to our farmland, forest, and clean water protection programs, the answer will
be no."
With the proposed funding
cuts, natural areas that are at greater risk to development include:
• The Little Tennessee
River, Swain County: The Little Tennessee provides habitat for rare fish
and mussels, and surrounding forests are home to black bears, songbirds, bats
and amphibians. One portion of the river system is a haven for rare species
and native plants and animals. Over 4,000 acres of the Little Tennessee River
would be protected with partial support from the Clean Water Management Trust
Fund. The area surrounding the river is under intense development pressure.
• Town Creek,
Brunswick County: Town Creek, in the Cape Fear River Basin, is a key link
in the North Carolina’s river corridor protection plan, and state officials
consider it a priority natural area to preserve. Over 1000 acres, including
water-cleansing wetlands, would be saved with assistance from the Clean Water
Management Trust Fund.
"We’re shocked and extremely
disappointed in the cuts to the state’s largest open space preservation program,"
said Katherine Skinner, executive director of The Nature Conservancy. "Projects
across the state that protect streams, water quality, and wildlife habitat
are waiting in line. The fate of many of these projects rests with budget
writers," she said.
State law requires budget
writers to dedicate $100 million to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund
each year starting with the 2003-2004 fiscal year.
But today, House lawmakers
are expected to appropriate just $25 million to the Clean Water Fund. The
Farmland Preservation Trust Fund was not allotted any money for the 2003-2004
fiscal year.
"North Carolina’s rural
character is vanishing with the loss of its farmlands," said Reid Wilson,
executive director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina. "We are disappointed
that the House did not fund the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, and urge
the Senate to earmark farmland protection funds to protect valuable open space
and keep farmers on their land."
Since 1986, four natural
resource trust funds, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the Natural Heritage
Trust Fund, the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and the Farmland Preservation
Trust Fund, have acted to restore water quality and protect natural areas
across the state. Combined, the programs have protected more than 1,500 miles
of rivers and streams and saved more than 200,000 acres of forests, farmlands,
and other open spaces from development.
The Clean Water Management
Trust Fund receives more than $200 million in requests each year from local
governments, land trusts and state agencies to protect and restore water quality.
With adequate state level funding, the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund could
draw as much as $7 million in federal funding for farmland preservation.
In the last decade, the
state’s development rate, the sixth-fastest in the nation, has more than doubled
the rate of population growth. More than one-third of the state’s wetlands
have been filled in or developed, and no longer work to improve water quality.
Three years ago, in response
the state’s rapid development, lawmakers set a goal of preserving an additional
1 million acres of forests, farmlands, and wetlands by 2010. With full funding
to the state’s natural resource trust funds, the primary vehicles for open
space protection, North Carolina is on track to preserve roughly 53,000 acres
of natural areas each year. To fulfill the million acres goal, the state needs
an additional $125 million to $175 million each year.
"Without full funding
of its open space preservation programs, North Carolina cannot protect drinking
water sources for its citizens," said David Knight, contract lobbyist with
the Trust for Public Land. "The need for water protection in the face of rapid
development is too big to ignore."
Several dozen activists
from around the state traveled to Raleigh today to urge lawmakers to restore
funding to the state’s natural resource protection programs and to adopt other
measures to promote land conservation.
