Growth gobbles fields, woods

Bond issue sought to preserve land

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CORRECTION

An April 26 story in the City & State section about the loss of open land and a proposal to preserve open space incorrectly spelled the name of Elizabeth Ouzts, director of Environment North Carolina.

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Eight years ago, trees grew on a 145-acre swath of land in northern Wake County off Capital Boulevard. Now, 1.3 million square feet of shops and department stores known as Triangle Town Center occupy the spot.

The transformation of a Piedmont pine forest to an asphalt-and-concrete shopping mall illustrates the kind of rapid development unfurling across the Triangle and North Carolina. What used to be farms and woodlands have become subdivisions. Shopping centers. Roads. Schools.

Nearly 2 million acres of forest and farmland in North Carolina will disappear over the next 20 years if development continues at the current rate, says a new report by Environment North Carolina, a conservation advocacy group.

"North Carolina's signature woodlands, farmlands and open spaces are disappearing at an alarming rate," said Elizabeth Outz, state director of Environment North Carolina.

Supporters of an open space bond referendum seized the new report, released Wednesday, as evidence that the General Assembly should ask voters to approve a $1 billion bond package for land preservation.

The report examines federal data about development rates in the last two decades and uses that to project loss of farmland and forests in the next 20 years.

Since 1987, the amount of developed land in North Carolina has increased by 1.86 million acres -- a 65 percent rise, it says. The Triangle has more than doubled its developed land, adding 327,000 acres, the report says.

That rapid development is expected to continue. The study projects that by 2027, the Triangle will have another 376,000 acres developed -- a 58 percent increase, the highest growth rate in the state.

The Triangle will lose 37 percent of its open space and farmland will disappear altogether, the report says. Grouped in the Triangle are Wake, Orange, Durham, Chatham, Franklin and Johnston counties.

"I think all total we are consuming about 10,000 acres a year," said Emmett D. Curl, Wake County revenue director, referring to the fastest-growing county in the Triangle.

Additionally, the state's largest metro area, Charlotte, will lose 30 percent of its forests and farmland, including nearly a quarter of its woodlands. That will represent the highest rate of forest loss in the state, the report says.

To stem the losses, a state land and water conservation study commission looked at ways to boost state efforts to acquire land for conservation. In 1999, state leaders set a goal of protecting 1 million acres within 10 years. But after seven years, that initiative is behind schedule. Public and private efforts to date have protected about 405,000 acres, a 2006 state report said.

The study commission recommended the $1 billion in additional spending over five years. The bonds would be used to help purchase and protect about 740,000 acres of lands, including 6,000 miles of buffers along rivers and streams.

"Citizens very much want to protect our natural areas," said Rep. Lucy Allen, a Democrat from Franklin County who introduced the legislation and co-chaired the study commission. "There are going to be no second chances."

The bills, introduced in the House and Senate, have a bipartisan majority of members in each chamber as co-sponsors. But a similar proposal last year stalled because of concerns by Gov. Mike Easley about increasing the state's debt.

And this year, the bills are competing with a wide array of other interests. Advocacy groups are vying to finance nearly $3 billion for housing, schools and water and sewer systems.

In his budget, Easley recommended $106 million for open space and farmland preservation, encouraging backers of open space bonds that the state's chief executive recognizes the need for some spending to preserve land.

"We were really pleased to see him put anything in his budget," said Kate Dixon, director of Land for Tomorrow, a partnership that is promoting a bond referendum. "We're looking at loss of quality of life if we don't do something now."