Group aims to protect Tar River

Charles Currin grows corn, wheat and soybeans on the 128 acres he owns off U.S. 158. He feeds those crops to 170 dairy cows he milks twice daily at the nearby dairy farm where he grew up.

Like many farmers, however, Currin faces the economic pressures of farming land that has become increasingly valuable for its development potential. In Granville County, for example, 19 new subdivisions totaling 576 lots were approved in 2005.

Currin is among those receiving help from the Tar River Land Conservancy. The nonprofit land trust works to protect stream buffers and to preserve farmland along the Tar River and its tributaries.

More than 150 people, including landowners, attorneys, real estate developers, financial planners, accountants, local government officials and nonprofit groups, attended a workshop given by the conservancy Tuesday in Oxford.

At the workshop, experts explained a variety of state and federal conservation easement programs through which landowners can give up their development rights to protect their land and also receive financial or tax benefits in the process.

"It's all about choice. ... It's all about private property rights," said Chuck Peoples, Executive Director of the Tar River Land Conservancy. "You can choose to develop your land; you can choose not to."

Tobacco farmers face the additional challenge of finding new ways to use their land after the tobacco buyout; for some, selling to a developer has seemed like their only option. But it's clear that landowners are looking for alternatives.

"The timing is very good," Peoples added. "The tobacco buyout program is going to affect how many property owners view their property in the future."

Mary Brooks said her 250-acre tobacco farm has been in the family for generations. That's why she feels it's important to look at all her options that will enable her to pay her taxes and provide for her children.

"We do the best that we can; that's all we can do," Brooks said.

Growth is taking a toll in Granville County, as well as in Franklin and southern Person counties. Development increases roads and rooftops. Those impervious surfaces replace buffers of trees and vegetation that filter water before it reaches streams.

Unfiltered water increases sedimentation and other pollutants that reach the Tar River and other streams, which can damage water quality.

"Most people don't see it," Peoples said. "It's like watching your child grow. It's the change in land use that's going on day in and day out."

Granville farmer Randy Guthrie protected 232 acres of his land with easements, resulting in payments from two programs and tax benefits for an easement he donated.

"It's a way a lot of small farmers can get some income from their property and still maintain the use of it and protect it from development," said Guthrie, a retired superintendent of N. C. State University's Beef Cattle Field Lab in Butner. He consults part time for the Tar River conservancy.

North Carolina's experience is typical of what's happening around the country, according to Stephen Small, who wrote the Federal Income Tax Regulations on Conservation Easements.

"It's clear to me that there's a land ethic, and there's people who need to know about their choices," said Small, who spoke at Tuesday's meeting, which had the largest attendance he'd seen in several years.

In contrast to what some landowners think, Small said, a property owner does not have to allow public access to his land as a condition of obtaining a conservation easement that would qualify for tax benefits.

Peoples sees a need for a public commitment to funding the acquisition of farmland, forestland and historic preservation land.

One group helping with such efforts is Land for Tomorrow, a partnership of businesses, conservationists, farmers, environmental groups and others devoted to bringing about state laws that protect land, water and historic places.

Land For Tomorrow is garnering support for a bill it hopes the legislature will pass this session that would enable voters to pass a bond referendum to fund such acquisitions.

"One of my core beliefs is we have a moral obligation to leave the world a better place than when we got here," Guthrie said. "I just wanted to protect the property for other people to enjoy."