February 8, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The drinking water for Wake Forest and most of Wake County comes from Falls Lake, which is the last link in an interrelated system of streams, rivers and lakes known as the Upper Neuse River Basin. That 770-square mile basin is home to about 190,000 people and has nine drinking water supply reservoirs serving half a million people in Raleigh, Durham, Butner, Granville County, Orange County, Hillsborough and Creedmoor.

            Again yesterday The News & Observer reminded readers of the continuing drought and the interconnections between the reservoirs. You cannot wash your cars at home until Lake Michie and the Little River Reservoir fill up so that Falls Lake can fill to its normal level.

            In order for Falls Lake to return to its normal 251.5 feet above mean sea level, rain must fall far upstream along the Flat, Little and Eno rivers as well as in its watershed in Wake and Durham counties.

            If Falls Lake is to be free of silt, agricultural and lawn chemicals and other pollutants, then the water flowing into it from the three rivers and all the smaller streams must also be clear and as pure as possible.

            The entire basin will be subject to enormous stress in the next 20 years. The population is expected to increase by 50 percent from 80,000 households to 120,000, and 50,000 acres of land will be developed. Only 14 percent of what is undeveloped land today will be left without homes or stores by 2025.

            The upper, shallower reaches of Falls Lake are already impacted by muddy runoff from development, the outfalls from Durham’s, Butner’s and Hillsborough’s sewage plants and chemical runoff from farms and lawns. The state is undertaking a two-year study of the lake’s water, but the effort had a year’s setback recently because of problems with laboratory testing.

            They did not ride in with white hats on white horses, but Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and Granville County Manager J. Dudley Watts did announce a practical, cost-effective plan to protect and preserve water in the upper Neuse. In October they unveiled the Falls Lake Initiative to unite landowners, conservation groups, local and state governments by protecting strategic land along streams and river and around lakes.

            “Land conservation in the watershed is more cost effective than cleaning up polluted drinking water and provides communities with the public benefits of recreation opportunities, cleaner air and more wildlife habitat,” Meeker said at the kick-off meeting Oct. 26 in Butner.

            Just how do they plan to do that? By enlisting the help of those people and groups already involved in preserving land.

            Two of those people are D. Reid Wilson, the executive director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, and Stephanie Bass, a consultant working with the Conservation Trust on outreach for the initiative. The Conservation Trust is the umbrella organization for the state’s 23 land trusts, including the Triangle Land Conservancy, the Eno River Association, the Triangle Greenways Council and the Tar River Land Conservancy.

            “One of the first things [for the plan] is creating a comprehensive conservation plan for the entire watershed,” Wilson said recently. That map will be done digitally and will identify those areas that are critical for water quality.

            Three groups, all initiative partners, are working on the map. They are the Upper Neuse River Basin Association, Triangle J Council of Governments and the Trust for Public Land, a national organization which, Wilson said, “has done this sort of thing in lots of other watersheds around the country.

            In early April the three groups will unveil the map and ask for comments and revisions. Then in May the final plan with revisions will be presented to all the initiative members. At that time the different interests will decide the game plan, Wilson said. “Which ones will be talking to landowners and where, who will be talking to public officials in the different counties as well as beginning a broader outreach to the general public.” There may be some success stories by that time, he said.

            The critical part of the initiative is persuading landowners to protect their lands.

            “As development pressure increases on farms and family lands, the owners are increasingly looking for options about how to protect their land for the future,” Bass said. “This will offer protection for owners of some of our most beautiful areas.

            Landowners will have two ways to protect their land: by selling it to a local government or the state for a park or heritage area or by agreeing to a conservation easement.

            Wilson said the majority of landowners will most likely sell the conservation easements, which allow them to maintain ownership but restricts what can happen on the property in the future. “I think what we’ll see on a lot of properties is a conservation easement that just covers the land three hundred feet on either side of streams.

            “There may be other folks who don’t want to sell the easement but want to donate it,” Wilson said. Those owners who donate will get a federal income tax deduction and a state income tax credit. “Some will want cash, sill want to get the credits.”

            Those 300 feet along stream banks and other land in conservation easements will remain untouched, growing trees. The land trusts which hold the easements will check each year to make sure the conservation values are intact. The trusts try to maintain good relations with the landowners, Wilson said, pointing out any infringements and asking the owner to correct them. “It usually doesn’t get more contentious.”

            Purchasing easements, “that is where the serious money comes in, Wilson said. “It’s not going to come cheap.

            “We’re fortunate to have money from Wake County and from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.” Wake County voters approved $26 million in bonds in 2004 to purchase green space and conservation land.

            The N.C. General Assembly in 2000 set a goal of conserving a million acres by 2009, but the money has fallen short. In 2004, the CWMTF, one of three state trust funds set up for conservation, had $62 million to spend but $350 million in requests. (Wake Forest has received CWMTF money to purchase greenways and to restore Richland Creek.)

            The light at the end of the tunnel is another initiative called Land for Tomorrow. State Rep. Lucy Allen from Louisburg has sponsored a bill in the General Assembly calling for a bond referendum that would provide $200 million each year for five years. Wilson said 111 organizations have already endorsed the plan. You can read about it at http://www.landfortomorrow.org.

            “This is about drinking water, air, quality of life for future generations,” Wilson said of Land for Tomorrow, “and making sure we have the ample natural resources that support our economy.” North Carolina’s two biggest industries are agriculture and tourism. “We see this as something that is going to help everybody.”

            Bass does have one request. “What can we name this besides the Falls Lake Initiative?” The name needs to speak to everyone, and she said it was very clear at the first stakeholder meeting in Butner in October that “a real non-starter is [the name] Raleigh. It doesn’t do a thing for anybody.” You can send your suggestions to the editor.

            (Wake Forest, which is a member of the Upper Neuse River Basin Association, has only 343 acres -- 0.1 percent of the total area – and 150 homes in the basin, but the number of homes is expected to grow to 450 in 20 years.)