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Executive Summary
From the Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks, North Carolina
is renowned for its natural beauty. Unfortunately, rapid development over the
past several decades has threatened many of our most treasured open spaces.
Recognizing the importance of preserving our natural places
for future generations, North Carolina’s General Assembly established the
Million Acre Initiative to protect one million acres of land between January 1,
1999 and December 31, 2009. While many important and beautiful places were
protected in the process, it is now clear that North Carolina has fallen short
of this goal.
At the start of a new decade, it is vital that North Carolina
redouble its commitment to protecting important natural lands from development.
Protecting open
spaces is vital to North Carolina’s future.
- Protecting land near reservoirs, rivers and
groundwater recharge zones improves the quality of drinking water. The U.S. EPA
estimates that it is 20 to 400 times more expensive to treat polluted water
than to prevent contamination through watershed protection.
- Natural lands help the economy by attracting
tourists, improving retail sales, and creating job opportunities. Visitors to
our state parks, for example, contribute more than $400 million each year to
the state’s economy.
North Carolina’s
natural lands are threatened by development.
- Between 1987 and 2007, an average of 325 acres
of natural lands were converted to residential or commercial use in North
Carolina every day.
- North Carolina has lost more than one million
acres of natural lands in the past decade, more than any other state in the U.S.
- Rapid development is expected to continue,
especially once the nation’s economy recovers. By 2030, North Carolina’s
population will total 12 million people, an increase of 30 percent over current
numbers.
North Carolina’s
Million Acre Initiative has protected many important natural places, but the
state has fallen far short of achieving the million-acre goal.
- North Carolina created the Million Acre
Initiative in response to community meetings that highlighted the need for open
space preservation. The Initiative set a goal of protecting one million acres
between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2009.
- By the end of 2008, 643,209 acres had been
preserved under the Million Acre Initiative, less than two-thirds the amount
originally pledged. Due to the downturn in the economy, land preservation
efforts in North Carolina slowed dramatically in 2009.
- Failure to meet the Million Acre Goal is the
result of insufficient funding throughout the life of the Initiative. In 2008,
for example, there was a shortfall of over $140 million between requested and
allocated funds.
- The problem of insufficient funding intensified
during the recent recession. Although the Clean Water Management Trust Fund
board awarded more than $65 million for land acquisition in 2008, most of that
money was reallocated to other areas of the state budget. In its 2009 session,
the General Assembly put another $50 million into the Clean Water Management
Trust Fund, but six months into the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the state had not
released any of that money toward land acquisition.
North Carolina must renew
its commitment to land preservation.
- The state must commit to achieving the original
goal of the Million Acres Initiative at the soonest possible time to ensure protection
for North Carolina’s most valuable natural places.
- Recognizing the potential of land conservation
to bolster the state’s economy, the state must begin to release money from the
Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, the Natural Heritage Trust Fund and the Clean
Water Management Trust Fund for land acquisition.
- North Carolina must continue to pursue the
protection of ecologically sensitive areas, such as land around Chimney Rock
State Park, Hanging Rock State Park, and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
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