It's time to register online for the Land for Tomorrow's June 14 Lobby Day! read more >>

Clean Water Management Trust Fund Trustee, John Mc Millan, authored an opinion piece in the Raleigh News & Observer regarding Land for Tomorrow. read more >>

Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation , Bill and Nancy Stanback, Cemala Foundation, Marion Stedman Covington Foundation, Educational Foundation of America, Foundation for the Carolinas and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Foundation, Amy Grissom and David Cohen and Ruth Ann Grissom, Robert Wilson Challenge Fund, and others. View a complete list of supporters.

Make a donation.

Land for Tomorrow, a diverse partnership of conservationists, farmers, environmental groups, businesses, health professionals, and community groups, is asking the General Assembly to approve legislation (HB 1687/SB 1046) to place a bond referendum on the November 2006 statewide ballot that would provide $200 million per year for five years to preserve and protect the state's land, water, and special places before they are irreversibly lost.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the General Assembly created the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, Natural Heritage Trust Fund, and Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to help support diverse environmental improvement projects. Funding for the trusts comes through a combination of appropriations, personalized license plate sales and portions of the deed transfer tax.

But the funding is simply not enough. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund, for example, had six times more requests than funding last year.

North Carolina continues to be one of the fastest growing states in the nation. According to the US Census Bureau, our population will surpass Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey by 2030. This rapid growth puts incredible pressure on the state's natural resources. More than 100,000 acres of forests, farms, stream banks, wildlife habitats and wetlands are being developed each year. North Carolina lost more prime farmland acres to development between 1987 and 1997 than any state other than Ohio and Texas.

There was some good news in 2005 though. The General Assembly increased funding for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to $100 million, and provided $50,000 to start up the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund Advisory Board and establish criteria for future funding.

Land for Tomorrow released the annual Green Book, which lists all the projects funded by the trust funds throughout the state. Some of the highlights of 2005 conservation projects were:

• A $130,000 grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to help the Orange Water and Sewer Authority preserve an additional 168 acres adjoining land already protected by the county, bringing the total acreage protected since 1998 to 1,011. Acquiring this critical land helps ensure that the county's two drinking water reservoirs are clean.
• Farming, wildlife and water quality will be protected forever with the purchase of 2,843 acres of forest and prime farmland on Second Creek near Mooresville by The Land Trust for Central North Carolina.
• High levels of bacteria and sediment have placed Four Mile Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River, on the state's list of impaired waterways. A Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant for $542,000 will help Charlotte and Mecklenburg County stabilize and reshape the creek banks, and reforest land along almost a mile of the creek to reduce flash flooding and keep pollutants from entering the water.
• A $1.18 million grant is being used to buy about 180 acres of vacant lots for the completion of Kinston's "Retrofitting Green" Park. The park is being built on the site of neighborhoods devastated by Hurricanes Fran and FLoyd. The area will be turned into a green park of forests, fields, trails, a children's garden, an arboretum and ball fields to meet the diverse needs of the community while protecting water and air quality, flood storage and habitat for wildlife.
• Overall, more than 1,085 projects have been funded in nearly every county in the state.

View this year's Green Book online.

News articles appeared throughout the state. View the articles below:

• The Tarboro Daily Southerner, Article, "Projects Reflect Area's Interest in Conservation" by Matthew Whittle -- April 20, 2006
• Raleigh News & Observer, Opinion, "A Plan to Spare More Land" by John B. McMillan -- April 14, 2006
  
• Raleigh News & Observer, Letter to the Editor, "Land, Job, and the East" by Norman Buskill -- April 5, 2006
  
• Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald, Article "Preserving the Future: Saving the Goodliest Land" by Patrick Campbell -- April 3, 2006
  
• Durham Herald Sun, Article, "Land Committee Covers Lobbying for Funds at First Talk" by Whitney Isenhower -- April 1, 2006
  
• Raleigh News & Observer, Article, "Group Aims to Protect Tar River" by Kathy Watts -- March 31, 2006
  
• The Mountaineer, Article, "Haywood County forms a Land for Tomorrow Chapter" by MPC -- March 27, 2006

Nothing is more effective than a face-to-face visit with your legislator in showing him or her how important an issue is to you and others in the district.

That's why we're planning a Lobby Day on June 14 to make it easy and exciting for you to come to Raleigh for a visit with your legislators.

RSVP for Lobby Day online today!

The June 14 Land for Tomorrow Lobby Day will begin at 9:30 with a legislative update and briefing. We will hand out your packets and equip you with what you need to make your Lobby Day a success.

A press conference will be happening as you start your lobbying, and the day will finish with a de-briefing session at 3:30.

You are each cordially invited to attend a legislative reception at 5:30 following the Lobby Day. Legislators will be present at the reception, too, so it provides all the more opportunity to accomplish your lobbying goal.

Bring a group from your district, and lobby together. Be sure to RSVP!

The following organizations have signed on since March:

Counties & Municipalities

1. Town of Chapel Hill
2. Chimney Rock Village
3. Town of Cornelius
4. Town of Davidson
5. City of Durham
6. Durham County
7. Town of Huntersville
8. Town of Lake Lure
9. Mecklenburg County
10. Town of Mint Hill
11. Town of Mooresville
12. Town of Peachland
13. Town of Pineville
14. Town of Rutherfordton

Public and Private Organizations

1. Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
2. Cabarrus Soil & Water Conservation District
3. Cape Fear Regional Community Development Corporation
4. Citizens for Transportation Alternatives
5. Cleveland County Community Development Corporation
6. Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau
7. Durham People's Alliance
8. Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association
9. Greensboro Beautiful Inc.
10. Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks Commission
11. Hickory Parks and Recreation Commission
12. Housing Assistance Corporation
13. Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Commission
14. New Hanover County Watershed Management Advisory Board
15. Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
16. Outer Banks Community Development Corporation
17. Partners for Parks
18. Rocky Mount Edgecombe Community Development Corporation
19. T. Gilbert Pearson Chapter of the National Audubon Society
20. UHURU Community Development Corporation
21. Wilmington Tree Commission

See the complete list of partners. Learn how to become a partner.