|
2009 Committee Members
 |
Bob Ritchie (Cabarrus), Chair |
|
Dave
Thomas (New Hanover), Vice-Chair |
|
Donnarie Hales (Pitt), Recorder
|
| Area |
Delegate |
District |
Alternate |
District |
| 1 |
Drew Brannon |
Henderson |
|
|
| 2 |
Grover McPherson |
Forsyth |
Frank
Payne |
Watauga |
| 3 |
Albert Troutman |
Moore |
Jesse McCaskill |
Montgomery |
| 4
|
John Langdon |
Johnston |
|
|
| 5 |
Harvey Roberts |
Albemarle/Currituck
|
John Stallings |
Bertie |
| 6 |
Dave Thomas |
New Hanover |
Bill Hart |
New
Hanover |
| 7 |
|
|
|
|
| 8 |
Bob Ritchie |
Cabarrus |
William Craig |
Gaston |
Resource Contacts
|
Julie Henshaw Division of Soil and Water Conservation |
|
Kristina Fischer Division of Soil and Water Conservation |
|
Tim Garrett
USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service |
|
Brian Evans
NC District Employees' Association |
|
Jerry
Dorsett
One North Carolina Naturally |
Action Items
* Action items #1 and #2 are the top two
priorities of this committee.
1. Urges the Association to seek $3.4M
for the Community Conservation Assistance Program from
the General Assembly for the 2010 fiscal year. The
Association urges the Division to seek
technical
assistance funding for District Community
Conservationists statewide.
2009
2. Create a statewide “Conservation
Easement Subcommittee” 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.
2009
3. 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 2009 Fall
Meeting of the
Association’s Executive Committee.
2009
4. Establish a workgroup of various
partners (including CCAP, EMC, SWCC, and Water
Resources)
to examine design, eligibility and
qualifications of BMPs in high water table areas.
2009
5. The Association’s Legislative and
Community Conservation Committees include in its
legislative
priority to increase funding for the
CCAP; and that the Community Conservation Committee send
a
request to the Soil & Water Conservation Commission
to set aside a portion of funds appropriated
for CCAP
for education and outreach on community conservation;
and furthermore, that the
Association and local
Districts write letters and contact their legislators in
support of increasing
state funding for the CCAP.
2009
6. The Community Conservation Committee
urges the Association’s President and Division Director
to write a letter of support for dedicated funding for
the Agricultural Development and Farmland
Preservation Trust Fund.
2009
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 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 to assist land owners in
protecting and managing their land
holdings.
2009
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