Action Items
* Action
items #1 and #2 are the top two priorities of this
committee.
1.
Urges the Association to seek
$1.3M for the Community Conservation Assistance Program
from the General Assembly for the 2009 fiscal year.
2008
2.
The Association encourages the
Division of Water Quality and the Division of Land
Resources to work to develop guidelines for best
management practices that can address both sediment and
erosion control during construction, and provide water
quality treatment long term.
2008
3.
Update the Association website
to fully include the Community Conservation Assistance
Program.
2008
Policies & Positions
1.
The Association endorses, in
principle, the following eight-point statement prepared
and adopted by the Hugh Hammond Bennett Chapter of the
Soil and Water Conservation Society. When the
Association becomes involved with land-use planning and
policy, it and local Districts should consider the
following principles:
Land-use policies and effective
land-use plans must be based on careful analysis of the
following considerations: the needs and desires of
people for productive soil, clean water, quality
vegetation and aesthetic facilities, the capabilities,
limitations, and potentials of the land as shown by soil
surveys and other land studies.
Land-use policies and plans must be reviewed periodically to
determine changes that will alter the use of land so it
meets people’s needs and desires.
To the maximum extent practical, landowners should continue
to exercise their inherent right to use their land and
associated resources in any way they desire.
Landowners, however, should recognize that exercising
this right also carries a greater responsibility, that
they must consider the overall impact of their decision
on the public and the environment.
Land-use policies and plans should recognize the importance
of the property tax structure and its influence on land
use. They should also include provisions for
considering adjustments in tax value of land, including
fair and equitable assessments of land use for
agricultural, wildlife, recreational, aesthetic, or
other uses, which are of significant interest and
importance to the public.
Fundamental changes in land use, especially the conversion of
important agricultural lands to nonagricultural uses
should be made only after adequately studying the
long-term and short-term effects (ecological, economic,
and social) on people and environment.
Some uses of land (such as, but not limited to, gravel pits,
surface mines, highways, and construction borrow pits)
tend to destroy or greatly alter the land’s usefulness
and appearance. When these are completed, they should
be followed by necessary reclamation measures--including
replacement of topsoil where feasible--which will fully
protect the land and return it to a useful condition.
Land in public ownership, insofar as possible, should be made
accessible to fill the public need for recreational,
aesthetic, and other environmental enjoyment. Such
lands should be managed to maintain the most logical
balance between public uses and adequate protection of
the soil, water, plant, and animal resources.
All citizens should be provided with adequate information to
acquaint them with the potentials and opportunities
basic to proper land use. To be effective, land-use
policies and plans evolve through citizen understanding
and participation. Educational efforts should be geared
to the entire population, emphasizing groups most likely
to respond to such efforts.
2006
2.
The
Association recognizes the need for land use planning,
but opposes any state or federal land use planning act
that fails to delegate authority in such planning to
local officials. The Association recommends that the
Districts become one of the main agents to develop and
implement local land use plans. Districts should work
to ensure adequate representation with local work groups
including; Parks & Recreation and Planning & Zoning so
that good conservation practices may be implemented and
maintained. Promotion of greenways, open spaces,
buffers, and other green land use practices are
encouraged. Actions of all officials should include
adequate public hearings.
2007
3.
The
Association encourages Districts to promote soil and
water conservation BMP’s with contractors, real estate
developers, lending institutions, government agencies,
and local citizens. To do this, Districts need to
provide technical assistance so that their clients will
become aware of the importance of conserving all rural,
suburban and urban land.
2007
4.
The
Association supports the policies for the State of North
Carolina to conserve and/or protect our prime, unique,
state, and locally significant farmland, prime
forestland, wildlife habitat, and natural heritage
survey sites (hereinafter referred to as important farm
and forestlands) and endorses agriculture districting
and farmland preservation in North Carolina.
2007
5.
Any
taker of important farm or forest land must prove an
overriding public need exists--without a reasonable or
prudent alternative--before public funds could be
invested for roads, streets, water or sewer facilities,
and similar items. In addition, this public need must
be proven if actions taken were to decrease the
productivity or adversely affect the remaining or
adjacent farm and forestland.
2007
6.
The
Association supports the N.C. Sedimentation Pollution
Control Act of 1973, including the review process
required by local ordinances for erosion control plans
by District Supervisors, NRCS staff, and District
staff. Each District is encouraged to work on erosion
and sedimentation problems to maintain agriculture’s
exemption from the Act. This will be done by providing
education on and promoting the use of Best Management
Practices to prevent sediment runoff. Each District is
encouraged to support local sedimentation and erosion
control programs.
2006
7.
The
Association will continue to support the Commission,
the NC Agriculture Cost Share Program for Nonpoint
Source Pollution Control, and the Community Conservation
Assistance Program.
2007
8.
The
Association supports a program promoting estate planning
by the state’s farm families. Tax reduction through the
transfer of conservation easements should also be
considered. Districts and the Association should also
work to maintain the existing exemption under the
federal estate tax statutes at its current level or
higher.
2007
9.
The
Association supports dedicated funding for the
Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust
Fund, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the Parks
and Recreation Trust Fund, and the Natural Heritage
Trust Fund. The Association endorses the State Goal of
preserving a million acres of open space over the next
ten years – especially by providing incentives to land
owners to preserve farm and forest land.
2007
10.
The
Association supports district involvement in assisting
with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
Phase I and Phase II Regulations to help improve surface
water quality.
2007
11.
The Association urges the Division to seek
technical assistance funding for District Community
Conservationists statewide.
2007
12.
The
Association supports the continual expansion of approved
BMPs for Community Conservation projects as needs are
identified by districts across the state.
2007
13.
The
Community Conservation Committee urges districts to
develop relationships with nonprofit organizations,
corporations, and other government agencies.
2008
14.
The
Executive Committee will initiate an investigation to
explore feasible options for securing legal assistance
for conservation districts.
Among the options that may be considered are: 1) authorizing
an attorney position in the Division of Soil and Water
Conservation, 2) sharing an attorney with land trusts in
N.C., or contracting with land trust legal staff, 3)
securing grant funding for legal services that can be
accessed by Districts. This investigation will be
completed and a report with a recommended course of
action presented at the 2008 Fall Meeting of the
Association’s Executive Committee.
2008
15.
Create a statewide “Conservation Easement Workgroup” to:
·
Provide to all districts basic information about
conservation easements, the benefits to district
programs and landowners, and the existing legal
framework for them; and,
·
Provide technical guidance and materials to Districts
during the process of initiating and consummating
arrangements with landowners, and/or government
entities, interested in selling or donating conservation
easements.
2008
16.
Commend
the Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation and the
Farmland Preservation Committee for progress made in
obtaining funding, producing technical materials, and
organizing grant management training for SWCDs.
2008
17.
The
State Association encourages each conservation district
in NC to get to know and develop a working relationship
with the staff and board of the land trust(s) that cover
their respective county. The objective of this working
relationship should be to compliment the efforts and to
draw on the expertise of each organization. These
efforts should focus in on giving service to land owners
who desire assistance in protecting and managing their
land holdings. By June 2008, the Community Conservation
Committee will set-up a subcommittee to look at
conservation districts and land trusts working together
most effectively. Representatives of CTNC and land
trusts will be asked to serve on this committee.
2008
