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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE N.C. LAND FOR TOMORROW INITIATIVE <br />FOR OPEN SPACE AND LAND CONSERVATION <br />WHEREAS, Orange County, through its award-winning Lands Legacy Program, <br />is committed to protecting lands critical to the future of North Carolina's drinking <br />water, economy, and quality of life, and <br />WHEREAS, the Lands Legacy Program has protected over 1,600 acres of <br />natural and cultural resource lands in Orange County to date, and <br />WHEREAS, North Carolina is losing mare than 100,000 acres of those special <br />places to population pressures each year and the state's population is expected <br />to grow by 50 percent in the next 25 years, and <br />WHEREAS, funding sources for land protection efforts in North Carolina have <br />lacked sufficient funding to protect stream banks and flocdplains, legacy forests, <br />prime farmlands, local parks and recreation, state parks, game lands, natural, <br />scenic and historic places, and <br />WHEREAS, there is no second chance to protect North Carolina's great natural <br />resources with costs to do so increasing in the future, and <br />WHEREAS, additional state funding will leverage twice as much funding from <br />federal, private and local sources and enable local land trusts and programs like <br />Lands Legacy to do much mare in terms of land conservation; <br />NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of <br />Commissioners urges the 2006 General Assembly to enact legislation <br />authorizing the "Land for Tomorrow" bond referendum to increase conservation <br />spending in North Carolina by $200 million per year. <br />BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board asks that Orange County be listed <br />as a partner in the Land for Tomorrow initiative, and that staff explore the <br />mechanisms by which the Lands Legacy Program and Land for Tomorrow can <br />mutually benefit from their common goals. <br />This the 5~h day of December, 2005. <br />Moses Carey, Jr., Chair <br />Orange County Board of Commissicners <br />