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Conservation Trust |
Conservation Trust for North Carolina
You Can Help Protect ADMINISTRATION BUDGET PROPOSES SELLING OFF North Carolina forests are important to this state’s quality of life. Forests protect clean drinking water, provide habitat to a diversity of plants and animals, and fuel the state’s tourist and forest product economies. North Carolina loses almost 300 acres a day of forests and other natural lands to development. Now, some federally protected forests are also threatened. The Bush Administration’s FY 2007 budget proposal under consideration by the U.S. Congress includes the sale of 9,828 acres of US Forest Service lands in North Carolina and more than 300,000 acres nationwide, to fund rural schools. If passed, this proposal will affect the protection of North Carolina’s Pisgah, Nantahala, Uwharrie, and Croatan National Forests. Many of the forest lands in these areas are key wildlife corridors, including ecologically sensitive areas, and are adjacent to national and state parks, state game lands, and private lands protected by conservation agreements. Governor Mike Easley, Senator Elizabeth Dole, Senator Richard Burr, Congressman Charles Taylor, and others have stated publicly that they strongly oppose this sale. North Carolina land trusts have signed a resolution stating their own opposition (click here for copy). You can use your voice to help defeat this proposal. The US Forest Service is accepting comments on the proposal until March 30. Comments can be submitted electronically to SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us. For more information on the proposal, see the USFS website at http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/rural_schools. You can support the protection of North Carolina forests and other lands in your community that contribute to North Carolina’s unique quality of life by donating to the Conservation Trust for North Carolina and/or your local land trust. Click here to find your local land trust.
*********************** Conservation Trust for North Carolina
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