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soils, located in water supply watershed, culturally significant, and/or includes significant <br />natural area. See 1DA). <br />Objective 3A.9: Increase annual state funding for the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, with <br />establishment of dedicated funding sources to supplement general appropriations: <br />• Increase funding for trust fund from the present $1.5 million to at least $15 million. <br />• Establish a surcharge on public water supply users, to be set aside for protection of critical <br />water - quality protection lands in the watershed where the water resource is to be protected. <br />• Establish a mitigation fee for every acre of farmland taken out of agricultural production for <br />development purposes, either a flat amount or a percentage of the sale price. <br />• Dedicate rollback taxes obtained within a county to fiord farmland preservation. . <br />Objective 3A.10: Enable counties and municipalities to defer or eliminate property taxes on <br />private land subject to conservation easements or other long -term conservation management <br />agreements. <br />B. ENHANCE PROTECTION OF FORESTS <br />Objective 3B.1: Support increased coordination with local government. <br />• Improve coordination of state forestry management staff and practices with local government <br />land -use, open space, watershed, and natural area protection plans. <br />• Enable counties to enact ordinances for tree protection that are equivalent in statutory <br />authority to those powers already afforded to some municipalities. <br />Objective 3B.2: Support notice prior to cutting. <br />• Support legislation to give the NC Forest Service and local government pre - harvest <br />notification of thirty (30) days. <br />Objective 3B.3: Develop.strategy to protect significant natural areas. <br />• Encourage purchase of timber rights for significant natural areas identified and adopted by a <br />county following a natural areas inventory. Require Forest Service to notify property owners <br />of areas that are so designated, and to coordinate cooperation between the local government <br />and private landowners. <br />■ Add low - impact conservation forestland as another category of private property eligible for <br />present use property tax assessment, in addition to lands used for active forest management, <br />agriculture, and horticulture. Currently only forest plans that include cutting qualify for <br />property tax reductions. (See 3A.6). <br />11 <br />