In an ongoing struggle between the Navy's proposed Outlying Landing Field (OLF) and many North Carolina counties in the northeast, there seems to be no end in sight. In the past week, many articles were printed regarding the most recent developments, highlighting many citizens' concerns about losing farmland and/or wildlife habitat if the land was used for the OLF. Coverage also focused on residents of Gates and Camden counties who feel an OLF would severely hurt their communities economically, despite the addition of approximately fifty jobs.

• Gates, Camden leaders say they don't want Navy landing field. County leaders representing four potential sites for a Navy jet landing field in North Carolina pleaded Thursday to stay off a new list of finalists, saying the project would harm their economies and heritage.
  http://www.journalnow.com (link suppressed)
  

• Northeast counties oppose Navy field. Residents of Camden and Gates counties said the Navy's plans to build a practice airfield would damage the rural quality of life in the northeastern corner of the state.
  http://www.newsobserver.com/news/olf/story/757958.html

• New OLF sites panned, old sites still viable. Havelock advocates: OLF needed ‘somewhere.’ Debra Vaughn’s algebra students were without their teacher Thursday. Instead, she left them with a substitute teacher and traveled to the capital to oppose an outlying landing field in her native Gates County.
  http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2007/11/03/news/news01.txt

• North Carolina panel hears pros, cons about OLF sites. A Navy admiral said in a meeting here Thursday that the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point does not need another practice landing site, and that sites in northeastern North Carolina would be closer and more economical for jets based at Naval Air Station Oceana.
  http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=136034&ran=60826

• Governor’s group studied economic impact of an OLF. Despite jobs, northeastern counties still opposed. Despite the promise of high-paying federal jobs to staff an outlying landing field, the Navy heard Thursday that counties in northeastern North Carolina still oppose an OLF at any of four sites being considered in that region.
  http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2007/11/02/news/news02.txt

In March of last year, we posted a blog entry and ran an action campaign on keeping the so called "Road to Nowhere" from slicing through the Great Smoky Mountains. Over 700 activists contacted the National Park Service, asking them to forego finishing the road (which would cost tax payers $600 million) and instead offer Swain County a $52 million settlement.

Great news! Swain County and the National Park Service agreed to the monetary settlement; the Road to Nowhere will not destroy anymore of the Smokies.  Thanks to everyone who made sure their voice was heard on this important issue. Check out the full story here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/724077.html.

The ongoing struggle between the Navy and environmental and community groups in eastern North Carolina over the proposed Navy outlying landing field had a big development this week as the Navy released yet another report. Not surprisingly, they are still pushing for using the space (approximately 30,000 acres) out in Washington County, despite concerns raised by environmentalists, community members, and even some media. Aside from disrupting the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge with loud, polluting jet fighter planes, the location also is home to endangered red wolves, as well as hundreds of thousands of migratory birds that would inevitably be endangered, as well as cause flight hazards for pilots using the runways.

The Navy plans to hold public hearings in March and April, followed by a final decision in the fall. For more information regarding the hearings, visit the North Carolinians Opposing the Outlying Landing Field. Do you plan to attend any of the hearings to let your voice be heard?

The Charlotte Observer describes it as the next big thing: high density development in suburbs and rural areas.  The article focuses on a town outside of Charlotte, but the concept is applicable anywhere in NC:

The Village of Marvin in fast-growing Union County approved its first commercial development about two weeks ago -- a grocery-anchored 260,000-square-foot retail-office project.

Now, the town of about 2,260 is trying to decide whether it's ready for something even bigger: Marvin's Village, a $240 million mixed-use development at the northwest corner of Rea and Tom Short roads.

Charlotte's LV Realty envisions nearly 260 residential units, about 75 acres of open space and nearly a half million square feet of offices, shops, restaurants and civic buildings on 168 acres.

This seems like a good alternative to sprawling subdivisions, but at the same time, has some definite drawbacks.  Read the full article here and let us know what you think.

As an Organizer for the NC Conservation Network I travel all over my home state fighting to protect our health and our environment. I meet and talk with lots of different people in my travels. Often I hear from folks that they have a hard time seeing the link between their daily life (and health) and the importance of protecting our environment. 

Making Connections, which aired this week on UNC-TV, does an excellent job of showing the links between our everyday life, our land, farms, forests, natural habitats, water usage, air quality, and tourism.

Our friends at Environmental Defense worked with the Director of NC Zoo, Dr. David Jones, to create this wonderful program.  Dr. Jones says “It is time to ask tough questions about polluted air, dirty water, and development…See why now is the time for making connections." He travels across our state exploring how our health and wealth are in danger.

Click here to watch this program online.

They have also created an informative website with lesson plans and activity guides for teachers as well as ways for folks like you to get involved.

Dr. Jones asks "What will our legacy be?" 

I have hope that our state will be a leader in the recycling industry, renewable energy field, eco-tourism and organic farming. I see these replacing the vanishing small town textile mills and farms with industry that creates jobs, saves our small towns and preserves our beautiful environment.

What about you? What do you think our legacy will be?

At interesting idea out of Union County (from the Charlotte Observer):

Developers now face more hurdles to build subdivisions in another of Charlotte's fast-growing suburbs.

Union County on Monday became the third county in the suburban Charlotte region to pass a slow-growth ordinance, called an adequate public facilities ordinance.

The new law, enacted by a 3-2 vote Monday night by the Union County Board of Commissioners, is designed to slow housing growth in areas where schools are crowded. The ordinance requires developers who want to build in crowded school districts to do one of two things: delay construction until more schools are built, or pay a maximum fee of $14,953 per home proposed.

Several other counties in NC have similar ordinances including Cabarrus, Stanly, Currituck, Franklin, and Orange counties.

Good idea?  Or not doing enough?

There's been a lot of media coverage recently (more here and here) about the sale of Chimney Rock and the wilderness surrounding it.  Even the New York Times has gotten in on the action.

The family who owns Chimney Rock is asking $55 million for the property, but an independent appraiser put the value at $20 million.  The rub is that the state constitution prohibits the state from paying any more than the appraised value.

There is hope.  A group of concerned citizens have come together to lobby the state and the landowners to find a solution.  Check out their website and see how you can get involved.

The News and Observer has a great portrait of two of North Carolina's leading environmentalists, Ron and Nancy Bryant.  After years of living (and leading) in Charlotte, the couple has decided to move to 170 acres of farmland outside of the city:

At ages that entitle them to a relaxed retirement, Ron, 63, and Nancy, 66, will instead live in an energy-efficient "round house."

They'll stack solar panels on the barn roof. Grow much of their food. Tend chickens, beehives and, maybe, goats. Perhaps cultivate switch grass, an ethanol crop, and hemp for fiber.

Their story is really inspiring to me.  I'd love to move out to my own eco-farm someday, but right now I'm going to have to settle for what I can do at home.  I'm thinking about building my own tumbling compost bin and trying out a few of Consumer Reports' 50 Ways to Save Water.  What about you?

Land conservation has been a hot topic in this blog and in the recent legislative session.  Here's a note from our friends at Land for Tomorrow about another way you can learn about conserving land in North Carolina:

WRAL’s new Focal Point documentary, Green Acres, looks at the rapid pace of development in NC and efforts to preserve the green spaces that make North Carolina such a beautiful place to live.  The program, hosted by WRAL News anchor Bill Leslie, airs on WMYT-TV in Charlotte on August 26 at 9:30pm. (It aired in Raleigh and Wilmington earlier this week.)  The entire show can also be viewed online. [...]

Focal Point: Green Acres looks at how development is affecting ordinary people and places across North Carolina. It examines development trends that may hold the key to managing growth in a way that protects important green spaces and it looks at how conservation groups are scrambling to protect land in the face of rapid growth and skyrocketing land prices.

You should definitely check out their fact-filled website, and their beautiful gallery of photos from the winners of their recent contest (like the photo above).

As a native North Carolinian I have watched our landscapes changing as fast as our population growth. Lately I find myself screaming STOP THE MADNESS!! STOP paving over my favorite pasture lands! STOP clear cutting our wilderness for more and more big box stores with ugly parking lots! STOP changing our farm lands into suburban mini utopias where every house and yard looks the same!

Fortunately there is a way for us to stop the madness and I think the Charlotte Observer said it best:

"When three former governors and more than half the N.C. General Assembly agree on a proposal, something big is obviously up. In this case, it's an excellent idea: A $1 billion bond issue for land and water conservation projects as well as restoration of state historic landmarks."

Now we are talking! The Land and Water Conservation Bond Act of 2006. The funds generated from the Land and Water Conservation bond will be used to support the preservation of land and water, and North Carolina’s “special places” – the natural, cultural, historic, and community resources that define our state’s character. This statewide initiative will also help create jobs and promote economic development.

So what do you think? Let me know if you share the same frustrations or am I just overreacting?

I have to admit, I've never heard that phrase before, but it makes sense.  North Carolina has a beautiful (outer) coastline that we all value and want to protect, and we should treat our inner coastline the same way.

The News and Observer is running a summer series on this issue, and the first part has just been posted online.  Check out the interactive map of coastal development.

The NC Coastal Federation also recently released their State of the Coast report, which this year focuses on overdevelopment in the coastal region.

If you are from the coast, have you seen signs of overdevelopment in your town?  If you are like me and just visit, what have you seen?

A federal government panel has agreed with North Carolina officials and recommended our national forests remain 'roadless'.  From the News and Observer:

A federal advisory committee has recommended that the U.S. government go along with North Carolina's request to protect nearly 174,000 acres of national forest from road development.

These forests are in three of North Carolina's four national forests, two of them in the mountains and one near the coast. The land is considered roadless, though technically there are about 35 miles of dirt or gravel roads in those forests.

Unfortunately, the fight isn't over, but our prospects look good.  We should hear a final decision by the end of the summer -- and we'll let you know.

By now, you've probably heard of the administration's proposal to cut down national forests to fund rural schools.

Several forests in NC are in jepoardy, including the Croatan National Forest in the eastern part of the state.  Students there decided to take action.  Sixth graders at Broad Creek Middle School in Newport, NC, wrote to Mark Rey, undersecretary of agriculture and asked him, "What is the deal with cutting down the Croatan National Forest?" and "How would you like it if we cut down some trees around your house?". 

Many of you took action on our alert (now expired) and said some of the same things. But what's unusual about this story is that after he received the letter, Mark Rey flew to Carteret County to explain the proposal (and get some good press).

I doubt that he was able to convince the class that the sale of their backyard forests was a good idea.  He hasn't been able to convince Congress to support the idea, either. But according to those who know him well, he'll keep pushing until he gets what he wants.  And we'll keep pushing back.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Lincoln County is trying a new kind of smart growth: each new home in the county might be required to sit on a minimum two acre lot. 

The idea is that the new plan will slow the rate of growth. But in actuality the plan has two unintended consequences: keeping development to only higher income families and eating up more land for housing. 

The goal of the Lincoln County commissioners is good -- they want to control growth and make sure they are able to pay for services like schools and sewers.  But this plan doesn't seem right.

How can we find a balance between controlled growth and expensive houses on huge lots?

There's a new bear in town. Not "Smokey", the good ol' bear that helps us prevent forest fires. But "Smoky" the Bear of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And while this bear hates to be the bearer of bad news, he's got some news that's hard to bear. Ok, I'm stopping with the bear puns, just bear with me.

I've been doing a bit of research to find out the history behind the North Shore Road issue (or as the locals calls it, the "Road to Nowhere"). This proposed road would be 34 miles long, and slice through one of our country's favorite parks. In addition, it would take over 15 years to build and cost approximately $600 million dollars in taxpayer money. According to an interesting commentary from the Mountain XPress, this story started during World War II:

When the Tennessee Valley Authority built the [Fontana Dam] in the 1940s, residents of the area to be flooded (which included N.C. 288 in Swain County, the only road access) were forced to move. To compensate these people, the federal government paid them for their land and promised to build a road along the north shore of Fontana Lake after World War II. But only a few miles of the road were ever built before the project was abandoned due to environmental and financial concerns.

Now, special interest groups are trying to finish the job that started all those years ago. However, besides being unneccesary, the proposed North Shore Road would have huge environmental impacts, destroying natural resources, beautiful views, wildlife habitats, hiking trails, and even leaving the area vulnerable to acid runoff. 

It seems to me like the perfect solution is on the table: do not build this "Road to Nowhere." Give the Swain County locals $52 million dollars in a settlement which many of the locals and Swain County commissioners are supporting.  If you're interested in contacting your decision-makers about this issue, take action today.

Isn't our state and our country losing enough open space? Why must we further facilitate the destruction by building a road with no real purpose?

Frankly, I just can't bear it.

The Forest Service and the Federal government are in desperate need of cash (they say).  It might have something to do with that little wasteful war in Iraq – still no WMDs in case you’re wondering.  So naturally it’s time to start selling America:

The Bush administration Friday laid out plans to sell off more than $1 billion in public lands over the next decade, including 85,000 acres of National Forest land in California. [...] “(Under Secretary) Mark Rey said the sales were necessary because it was impossible to find enough funds elsewhere in a declining Forest Service budget”.

Of course, the same cash strapped government is now going to pass on collecting $7 BILLION from the oil and gas industry this year:

The government may waive up to $7 billion in royalty payments from companies pumping oil and natural gas on federal territory in the next five years, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing administration officials and budget documents. The royalty relief would amount to one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in U.S. history, even though the administration assumes oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period, the Times report said.

Goodbye America! Hello George Orwell! Please stop the world, I want to get off.     

Stop these fools: write a letter to the editor.   And tell us if you write one!

A North Raleigh cemetery is starting to move pet remains this week to make room for more development.  According to the Raleigh News and Observer:

After 35 years, the Pet Rest Cemetery in far northwest Raleigh has succumbed to development -- perhaps a Hampton Inn, owner Steve Rogers said.

That means a new home for Yogi, Sniffy and a pig named Arnold. By mid-November, Kaauamo [Blase Kaauamo, a cemetery staff person]  must disturb the rest of Puddles Eggleston, Capt. Nick Danger Myers and Sir Timothy Flash of Skye.

Most of the graves are being moved to a new location on T.W. Alexander Drive, but some remains are being picked up for reburial by their owners. 

Rogers was apparently worried about protesters, 

"Every day, you come out expecting to see a picket line, and you just hope they haven't chained themselves to something," Rogers said. "But for the most part, people have been really understanding."

but it seems there haven't been any. 

Should we be protesting this?  Are we moving the remains of loving animal companions for the sake of more sprawl development?  Or is this just a case of needed development and available land?

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina has recently been the topic of much debate between many concerned North Carolinians and the US Navy. The Navy wants to use the land to build a fighter jet landing field (Outlying Landing Field or OLF) that will execute over 30,000 departures and landings annually (estimated at occurring every 30 minutes). The controversy lies in the fact that the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, according to the Defenders of Wildlife, is home to "tens of thousands of swans, geese, and ducks....[which would be] on a collision course with a proposed Navy landing field."

Because of the extenuating circumstances regarding this wildlife refuge, this is not your everyday case of NIMBY (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). In fact, in a recent release from The Environmental Magazine, the Defenders of Wildlife declared their second annual ten most endangered national wildlife refuges (check out America's Most Endangered Refuges 2005). And guess what? The Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge made the list--along with other well-known refuges such as Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and New York's Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Dealing with similar land-use issues in your community? How do we gauge what's a simple case of NIMBY and what's a case of an actual misuse of land?

Interested in donating land for conservation purposes? Or maybe you know a friend who's wondered what options are available for protecting the family land.

One of the ways you can conserve your land is by donating it to a local Land Trust. To find out more about donating land contact your local land trust office.

All of the Land Trusts under the umbrella group: Conservation Trust for North Carolina, are affiliates of the NC Conservation Network.

Apparently, there's a new trend in burials.  From the New York Times:

In the green scheme of things, death becomes a vehicle for land conservation and saving the planet. "It is not enough to be a corpse anymore," said Thomas Lynch, an author, poet and Michigan funeral director. "Now, you have to be a politically correct corpse."

Read the full article "Eco-Friendly Burial Sites Give a Chance to Be Green Forever" and tell us what you think.  Clever marketing or a really useful idea for saving the world?