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. �41 LAND PROTECTED Where We Were When the goal to protect an additional million acres of open space was announced in January 2000, no reliable calculation of the amount of open space already protected in North Carolina existed. In order to establish that baseline number, hundreds of surveys were sent out, returned, and tallied during the summer and fall of 2000. These surveys confirmed the original estimate of 2.8 million acres of existing protected land in the state. Table 1 -1 below shows the breakdown of how much land was already protected by each of the land protection sectors that hold land for conservation purposes in North Carolina Table 1 -1 SECTOR Acres of Land Protected as of 12/31/98 Local Governments 52,2821 State Government 529,813 Federal Government 2,066,138 Local Land Trusts 38,464 Other Conservation Organizations 73,997 Total 2,7609694 1 Local Government figures are based on survey responses from 61 of 100 counties and 139 of 538 municipalities. Where We Are Now Once the baseline figure was determined, a system for tracking the additional million acres was developed. Figures for state, federal, and private sector land protection partners are collected through surveys every six months (end of calendar year and end of fiscal year). The local government totals have not been updated since the baseline survey was completed during the summer of 2000. Totals for each of the sectors as of 12/31/00 are presented in table 1 -2. Table 1 -2 SECTOR Acres Protected Between 1/1199 and 12/31/00 Local Governments 916731 State Government 67,144 Federal Government 7,012 Local Land Trusts 221738 Other Conservation Organizations 5,183 Total 111,750 1 Local Government figures are from 1/99 — 6/00. 91