CCEC Bulletin: 
CCEC, Inc. - 1/25/2007

Welcome NC General Assembly Back With A Conservation Request

As yesterday was the day that the North Carolina General Assembly convened its 2007 session in Raleigh, some CCEC members were pleased to be among a group of area citizens that witnessed the swearing in ceremony for Senator Bob Atwater.  This experience reminded us that with the return of our legislators to Jones St., it is critical that they hear from citizens on the importance of land and water conservation funding for hundreds of natural places in North Carolina.  Welcome our legislators back to Raleigh and ask them to make protecting our parks and open spaces one of their top priorities during this legislative session. 

As citizens of Chatham County are witnessing, out-of-control development and the state's growing population are quickly transforming the landscape, with the farmland and forests we treasure quickly disappearing.  Over the past few days one of our board members has, for example, witnessed the deforestation of many acres of former woods abutting his own property, a scene that is becoming all too familiar from coast to mountains and across the piedmont of NC.  According to Environment North Carolina, our state’s population recently surpassed that of New Jersey, and within the next 20 years will grow larger than Ohio and Michigan.  The uncontrolled development that comes with our growing population can contaminate our rivers and streams, destroy fish and wildlife habitat, and make the state more susceptible to damaging floods.  What's more, uncontrolled development threatens some of the state's best-known and best-loved green spaces.

That's why Environment North Carolina is working with the Land for Tomorrow Coalition to back the recommendations of the Land and Water Conservation study commission, which will ensure an additional $1 billion goes to existing land conservation programs.  The Land and Water Conservation Plan can help protect hundreds of thousands of important natural areas across the state.  The proposal will help sustain working farms and forests, preserve stream and river buffers, and create new parks and greenways.  In all, the plan will protect more than 260,000 acres of forests, farmlands, trails, parks, gamelands, and other natural areas, and more than 6000 miles of river and stream buffers.

There's still time to let legislators know you support saving our natural areas.  Welcome your legislator back to Raleigh and ask them to support protecting our parks and open spaces by clicking on the link below or copying and pasting it into your web browser.  Then, forward this info to your family and friends! 
https://www.environmentnorthcarolina.org/action/preservation/welcome?id4=ES



(Adapted from information supplied by Environment North Carolina.)