Every $1 invested in buying land for conservation in North Carolina returns $4 in economic value from natural resource goods and services, according to an economic benefits report released Wednesday at a summit on economics of conservation.
The summit was hosted by Land for Tomorrow, a coalition of conservation, government and other groups, and was intended to raise awareness of the importance of North Carolina's conservation efforts.
Natural resource goods and services are benefits from things such as air pollution that is removed by forests or natural water filtration systems provided by wetlands. Between 1998 and 2009, the state bought an average of 53,600 acres of conservation lands each year at an average annual cost of $72.6 million.
The report, prepared by The Trust for Public Lands, a national nonprofit land conservation organization, sought to detail the economic benefits North Carolina has realized during the past two decades from those purchases by state government's four conservation trust funds. The funds are the Clean Water Management Trust Fund; the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund; the Natural Heritage Trust Fund; and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
The summit, held in Raleigh, comes a week after Gov. Bev Perdue released her proposed budget and while legislators are crafting their own budget proposals.
The governor is recommending that the Clean Water Management Trust Fund appropriation stay at its current level of $50 million. That's a 50 percent reduction of what the trust fund appropriation is authorized to be, but keeping the funding at its current level is considered a win by conservationists.
"We're still playing a little bit of catch up, but we applaud her for keeping in her proposed level funding for the water fund…" said Reid Wilson, executive director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, and an attendee at Wednesday's summit.
The Clean Water Management Trust Fund provides grants to local governments and other groups to protect and restore rivers, creeks, lakes and estuaries. Its monies come from direct appropriation of the General Assembly.
The governor's budget is the starting point in negotiations for the 2011-2012 fiscal budget, and legislators will pass their own budget proposals to be sent to the governor.
Wilson said he'd like to see the assembly at least match the governor's proposals.
"Land conservation is important for our state's economy and therefore the legislature should put money in its budget" for conservation, Wilson said.
Funding for the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which is authorized at $2 million, would be reduced by 25 percent or $500,000, under the governor's proposal.
But the remaining $1.5 million would be transferred out of the Department of Agriculture, with $250,000 going to the Rural Economic Development Center, and $1.25 million to the Division of Soil and Water Conservation.
The Natural Heritage Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund get their monies in part from a portion of the state's deed stamp tax and are not subject to appropriation.
Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, chairman of the N.C. Economic Development Board, was a panelist at Wednesday's economics of conservation summit. He talked about projects in Winston-Salem, including a $26 million stormwater management project to create three lakes and restore a stream at the Piedmont Triad Research Park. About half that project's money came from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
"The message that I want to give is that trust funds are not only good for the environment and quality of life, but they're also good for economic impact," Joines said.
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
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