The story's told by many a youngster who remembers that first piece of financial advice: "Buy land. They don't make any more of it." Conservation groups in North Carolina are trying to get the state to follow that advice, not for an investment in profit potential, but to ensure that coming generations still have some wide open spaces. A proposed bond issue would invest $1 billion over five years in buying property to preserve.

It's a good idea, and legislators shouldn't just write it off because of other budget needs, as pressing as they are. Land for Tomorrow, a partnership of environmental groups, makes a common-sense case: land is going up in price, way up, and there are no indications that the charts will see the price points declining or even stabilizing.

Consider that the average purchase price paid by the state for conservation efforts per acre was $699 in 1996-97 and was $2,691 in 2004-05. In other words, if the state doesn't start shopping and buying now, it will be more expensive to do so in the short-term future. And practically, the state will be able to afford less land.

That's basic investment good sense. If the state salts away scenic beauty as soon, and to as great a degree, as possible, there it will be for all time. And that will enhance the state's already fine image as a green and beautiful place. That is, after all, one of North Carolina's best selling points, especially for tourists and retirees. State control of green space even has a positive effect on development, making property that is inevitably going to be developed even more valuable because of the open space around it.

Legislators wrestle with many things in the course of a session, and among them this time are health care, particularly mental health care, and a host of other needs that must be faced with a long-term lens.

But conservation is a long-term issue, too -- even, it might be said, a lifetime issue. North Carolina already has seen some crowding on parts of its coastline, and some negative environmental impact. Yet this state still is in better shape than many others where developers have just had their way.

The time is now to put more land aside for conservation, and the time is right. Prices are high as it is, but watching land prices isn't like watching the stock market, waiting for a downturn to make a buy. The state (and localities such as Wake County that have open-space plans) should be looking for properties, negotiating options, trying to make good buys right this moment. Land. The folks were right. There is no more.

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