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Winston-Salem Journal

By Charles S. Brummitt GUEST COLUMNIST

As the General Assembly works to produce a state budget for the next two years, legislators should provide adequate funding to protect water quality and farmland. North Carolina has wonderful natural resources. From the Blue Ridge Mountains to our Piedmont’s rolling hills and meandering streams to the unique sounds and wonderful beaches along the coast, our natural resources attract new residents and tourists. Even more important, those resources support our broader evolving and vibrant economy.

Our resources cannot continue to support our economy and quality of life without public commitment. Drinking water and farmland are particularly threatened by development. More than 100,000 acres of natural areas and farmland are converted to other uses each year. Without commitment from the General Assembly and our fellow citizens, the result will be a diminished agricultural economy and impaired water supplies.

Permanent conservation of lands that border reservoirs and streams is vital. These sensitive lands help limit sedimentation and filter runoff. It is far more cost-effective to protect them than to clean up polluted water. Protecting farmland is another key solution. When farmland is used for residential or commercial development, the land effectively loses its ability to be agriculturally productive.

North Carolina’s Clean Water Management Trust Fund finances projects throughout the state to protect and improve water quality. Through the fund, scores of conservation projects have protected land in watersheds and kept our water cleaner. As an example, a clean-water fund grant helped the Piedmont Land Conservancy protect land along nine miles of Mitchell River tributaries on Surry County’s Little Mountain and Lens Knob. The Mitchell River feeds the Yadkin River, which in turn provides drinking water to millions of our fellow citizens, including those who live in Winston-Salem. (Another part of this success story is that more than 1,700 acres of Little Mountain are now open to the public as the Mitchell River Game Lands as a result of this transaction.)

State law provides for the clean-water fund to receive $100 million a year, but currently the fund receives only $62 million. At that funding level, the fund can support only one-sixth of the projects it reviews. For next year’s budget, the Senate has included the full $100 million and the House budget provides $62 million for the clean-water fund. The return on our clean-water fund investment is impressive. The General Assembly should provide $100 million as called for by state law.

Protecting our state’s farmland is just as important. Our farmland is disappearing at the fourth fastest rate in the nation. Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in the state, yet too much of our most productive agricultural land is being converted into residential developments, roads and shopping centers. To preserve the land and support farm families, the legislature finances the state’s farm-land protection program by allotting $4 million to the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund or the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.

Most of these funds could be matched by federal funds to help purchase conservation easements from farmers. Conservation easements are completely voluntary and allow farmers to own and farm their land in exchange for prohibiting future development. The Piedmont Land Conservancy has protected more than 1,600 acres of farmland. Most recently, we completed additional protection of Goat Lady Dairy in Randolph County. The owners of the dairy then used the funds generated by the sale of development rights on their farm to reinvest in the dairy. Farmland preservation is critical to ensuring local food supplies and keeping our agricultural economy strong.

Finally, legislators should support the Land for Tomorrow initiative. Land for Tomorrow proposes placing a land-protection bond referendum on the November 2006 ballot. The proposed bond would result in increasing state funds dedicated for land and water conservation and historic preservation by $200 million a year over five years. Land for Tomorrow will help the state reach its goal of conserving a million acres and ensure protection of more working farms, land bordering streams, parks, greenways and historic places. With public commitment, we can ensure that protected lands will help provide clean air and drinking water, protect wildlife habitat, strengthen our communities, promote job growth and enhance the quality of life for generations to come.

• Charles S. Brummitt is the executive director of Piedmont Land Conservancy.

 

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