Alert! Wildlife Depends on Locally Maintained Forest & Farm Buffers

Urge your legislator to oppose state preemption of local government forestry regulation!

Local governments are important players in environmental protection – from controlling polluted runoff to protecting forested buffers along rivers and streams. But recently, two sweeping bills have been introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly to prohibit local governments from regulating forestry activities, including establishing riparian buffers.

House Bill 1172, “Clarify Regulation of Forestry”, and Senate Bill 681, “No Local Regulation of Forestry / Agriculture”, would prohibit virtually all existing and all future local ordinances designed to encourage sound and sustainable timber harvesting and farming. In the process, these bills would limit the ability of cities, towns and counties to protect local water and air quality, forest cover, and wildlife habitat.

Local ordinances are important in North Carolina because the few state forestry regulations – such as the forest practice guidelines issued as part of the state Sedimentation and Erosion Control law – are weak, poorly enforced and provide only minimum protections for water quality and virtually no protection for wildlife and other conservation values.

Cutting local government authority to require streamside buffers or promote good forestry practices is particularly unwise given ongoing declines in forest land. Between 1990 and 2002, North Carolina lost over one million acres of forests. Some counties, such as Wake and Mecklenburg, lost over one third of their trees during that period.

Finally, there is no evidence that this bill is responding to a real problem. Bill supporters have offered no examples of ordinances that have constrained landowners’ ability to manage forest lands productively and profitably. If anything, House Bill 1172 and Senate Bill 681 would hurt local economic development opportunities. Prohibiting local governments from establishing buffers could make them ineligible to receive funding from a variety of federal and state incentive programs aimed at assisting forest landowners to maintain their lands for production and conservation uses.

Please write the NC General Assembly today. Local governments need to retain the capacity to protect water quality, combat sprawl and reverse troubling forest loss trends. Their authority must be strengthened, not weakened. Use this link to determine your NC Legislators:

http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/Representation/Who_Represents_Me/Who_Represents_Me.html

Please urge your State Representative and State Senator to:

1. Oppose H1172 and S681, which take away management tools used by local governments to protect water quality and forest habitats.

2. Encourage timber harvesting (and farming) that protects wildlife and water quality.

3. Acknowledge the economic potential from state and federal programs when local governments comply with environmental regulations.

Share this concern with other State Assembly members you know as well!