News Release | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Conservation advocates set five-year goals

A tight economy and cuts in state funding have slowed land and water protection efforts across North Carolina in recent years. But the state’s land trusts and conservancies have accomplished much since the founding of Land for Tomorrow in 2005 … and now they have ambitious – but achievable – goals for the coming years.

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Securing North Carolina's Future

North Carolina’s forests, farms, wetlands and other natural lands contribute to our health, economic prosperity and quality of life. Rapid residential and commercial development over the last several decades has resulted in the loss of millions of acres of these important lands. Recognizing the challenge, individual citizens, organizations and public officials across North Carolina have sprung into action – investing money, time and effort to protect places that matter across the state.

News Release | Environment North Carolina

Nearly half of all legislators score a “zero” on the environment

Raleigh, NC— A record 55 representatives and 24 senators failed to cast a single contested vote in favor of the environment in 2011, a reflection of the repeated attacks waged by the General Assembly on the state’s air, water, and open spaces last year.  

Report | Environment North Carolina

Environment North Carolina 2011 Legislative Scorecard

The scorecard tracks ten contested votes from 2011 in the House and ten in the Senate on a range of bills that have largely become law, including those that push back a key deadline in the Jordan Lake clean-up plan, remove protections for a unspoiled Western North Carolina trout stream, and drastically limit the conservation of important greens spaces across the state, such as those that surround the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Find out how your legislators voted by downloading the full scorecard.  

News Release | Environment North Carolina

This Earth Day, electeds and advocacy groups stand together for the environment

Raleigh--On the eve of the 41st Earth Day, with many of our core environmental laws under attack in both Raleigh and Washington, Environment North Carolina stood with U.S. Congressmen David Price and Brad Miller, along with NC Representative Jennifer Weiss, to speak out against these threats to North Carolina’s air, water, land and quality of life.

News Release | Environment North Carolina

House budget guts critical conservation programs

RALEIGH – State conservation and environmental leaders say that the impacts of the proposed House budget would be dire for the environment—eroding protections for air quality, rivers and streams, and green spaces statewide.

News Release | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

NC falls short of goal to protect 1 million acres

Raleigh--In ten years, North Carolina has permanently protected more than 640,000 acres of parks, forests, farmlands, and such critical areas as Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock, and the banks of the Haw River.  Yet, according to a new Environment North Carolina study, the state fell well short of a goal set by legislators and former Gov. Jim Hunt to reach the million-acre mark by December 31, 2009.

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Unfulfilled Promise

Raleigh--In ten years, North Carolina has permanently protected more than 640,000 acres of parks, forests, farmlands, and such critical areas as Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock, and the banks of the Haw River.  Yet, according to a new Environment North Carolina study, the state fell well short of a goal set by legislators and former Gov. Jim Hunt to reach the million-acre mark by December 31, 2009.

Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Losing Our Natural Heritage

North Carolina’s signature woodlands, farmlands, and open spaces are disappearing at an alarming rate.  If these trends continue, the state’s treasured natural areas will disappear as vast tracts of land are developed into urban areas in the next twenty years.

Result

Protecting our Blue Ridge Scenery

Our 2010 report, Unfulfilled Promise:  The Million Acre Initiative and the Need to Preserve North Carolina’s Open Spaces, found that while the state preserved a number of important landscapes over the last ten years-- including Grandfather Mountain State Park, Chimney Rock, and tens of thousands of acres of game land in Eastern North Carolina--it fell far short of the million-acre mark, protecting just over 640,000 acres of forests, farmlands, and other open spaces.

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