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72 . c A )l Wvir The Conservancy report does not mention _ a key political problem that menaces open space — there is no great constituency €or 6 , ;044 : land conservation . . Beavers and .cardinals. ; , ; ;:, _ .1 • • don' t vote, obviously, but even among Regional , lann1n humans there is much more supportes eci —p ally when it comes to funding gownfor must �� parks and recreation facilities than for m6Il e preserved natural space. If we can' t use it, it seems, we don' t want it. reegn There are some rays of hope, especially in space this corner of the Triangle . Orange County oin around about has been a pioneer in creating a county There' s a lot of talk g g - Department of Environment and Resource open space these days . Conservation whose mission, in part, is to The buzz most prominently is coming . identify and conserve open space . Chapel from, Gov. James B . Hunt Jr. , who in theHill made open space preservation a priority waning days of his 16 years in office has in its new Comprehensive Plan, adopted by made a noticeable turnaround in his the Town Council Monday night. ` attitude toward the environment and land - -- • • - - preservation . Hunt last month unveiled a e. plan for protecting 1 million acres of open has been a pioneer in creating a county space over the next 10 years . He didn' t say Department of Environment and Resource how he would pay for it. ; Conservation whose mission, in part, is to Hunt' s proposal followed shortly after a identify and conserve open space. Chapel report by the Triangle Land Conservancy Hill made open space preservation a priority that documents an alarming erosion of in its new Comprehensive Plan, adopted by green space in the Triangle . The study the Town Council Monday night. found that in the last 10 years, development Orange County is working in a couple of has consumed 190,500 acres of open space areas on regional conservation — with in the six counties that make up the Chapel Hill and Durham on protecting New Triangle . Hope Creek, and with Durham County on That' s more than the entire 121 ,541 acres creating a regional park on the Little River. that have been preserved through public We have a good natural areas inventory — and private conservation efforts in the the work of UNC professor Haven Wiley region' s history. And a good chunk of that and science teacher Livy Ludington — that preserved space is underwater — Jordan ,J could serve as a model for the Triangle . (If Lake, Falls Lake, Harris Lake and other you' d like to find out . more about their water supply resources — which is fine to work, they' re speaking at a Sierra Club look at . but doesn' t do much to preserve forum Thursday at 7 : 30 p . m . at Church of species habitat. the Reconciliation on Elliott Road . ) If you look at the numbers, the But more — much more — needs to be preservationists are fighting a losing battle. done . From a broad perspective, the state Government and land trusts have targeted needs to come up with money to fund 16,000 acres for preservation over the next Hunt' s "million acre initiative ." But given five years, but that' s less than the amount the state funding crunch — induced largely , that has been consumed by development by Hunt' s acquiescence to $ 1 billion-plus in annually in recent years . Republican tax cuts in the 1990s — new The Land Conservancy cites other money for open space is not a likely problems . prospect any time soon. ®Little of the preserved property in the The Land Conservancy is calling for a Triangle is connected, which means that cru- "GreenPrint" for open space preservation cial wildlife corridors are cut off. that would identify land that needs to be ®Many local governments don' t have open protected and recommend how to protect it. space plans . That will need support from local ■There is little coordination among local governments in developing plans for land governments ; as well as private groups, and that crosses political boundaries . , we hope Orange County and the ®There is no good system for keeping track municipalities here will embrace the . of the open space that does exist. initiative .