North Carolina Group Examines State’s Growth

The conservation group Environment North Carolina has issued a new report detailing the growth of North Carolina’s urban and suburban areas. The report mainly focuses on the destruction of cropland and farms in the State’s rural areas.

It [the report] found that the Charlotte area has lost one-fourth of its cropland and forestland over the past 20 years -- 270,000 acres in all -- while adding 321,000 acres of developed land. That's an 88 percent increase, the report said.

The Triangle area around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill lost 24 percent of its cropland and forestland, and doubled its developed acreage by 327,000 areas. The Triad area -- Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point -- lost 14 percent of its forest and farmland while rural counties in the Piedmont added 322,000 acres of development.

Much of the report illustrates what is clearly visible to most North Carolinians; the State’s growth has been rapid, dramatic, and shows no sign of slowing. Environment North Carolina proposes drastic, but potentially beneficial growth management policy.

There is a plan. It's not cheap but it's worth doing: As the Land and Water Conservation Study Commission recommended last year, the General Assembly should approve a $1 billion bond issue that would provide an additional $200 million a year for five years to preserve land and protect waterways. It would help set aside 260,000 acres of farmlands, forests and other natural areas, add parks and trails to the state's inventory, and preserve more than 6,000 acres of streams and buffers adjacent to the state's waters.

The actions of North Carolina’s state government could provide valuable lessons to other Southern states on the issue of growth management. Rapid population growth also creates difficult decisions for Southern leaders, as many must balance the concerns of population and economic boom with the assistance demanded for growing abject poverty and desolation of many of their State’s rural areas.