Land for Tomorrow Lobby Day

Today, people from many organizations concerned about land preservation, for clean water protection, farmland preservation, recreation, and other purposes, came together to lobby the NC General Assembly for preservation and improvement of the four NC trust funds that are used to protect land in North Carolina.

The trust funds are (information copied from www.landfortomorrow.org):

The Natural Heritage Trust Fund, created in 1987, provides funding for the acquisition and protection of important natural and cultural areas. Acquisitions include land that is home to rare plant and animal species as well as important wildlife habitats. It also covers the acquisition of sites that are significant to NC’s cultural history. To date, it has funded more than $310 million in projects.

The Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, created in 1994, funds improvements in the state’s park system, dollar-for-dollar matching grants to local governments for parks and grants to local governments to improve public beach and estuarine access. It is the main source of funding for most state park improvements or acquisition of land to create new parks or expand existing ones. To date, it has funded more than $449 million in projects.

The Clean Water Management Trust Fund, created in 1996, makes grants to local governments, state agencies and conservation nonprofits to help finance projects that address water pollution. It covers land acquisitions that protect watersheds. It also funds other solutions to pollution, such as wastewater treatment or stormwater upgrades. To date, it has funded more than $950 million in projects.

The Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, created in 2005, funds conservation easements on lands used for production of food, fiber and other agricultural products. It also supports public and private enterprise programs that promote profitable and sustainable agricultural, horticultural and forestland activities. To date, it has funded $11.6 million in projects.

The funding of these trust funds was reduced by 85% during the 2011 session of the General Assembly. We hope that some of this funding can be restored. Also the CWMTF was prohibited from being used to acquire land except around military installations.

We will see with this year’s budget if any of the funding is restored