Plan Aims to Save County Resources

The Orange County Board of Commissioners met to hear Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Director David Stancil present environmental preservation proposals for the county.

Stancil presented the board with a preliminary draft of the Long-Term Priorities document of the county's Lands Legacy Program, which outlines conservation plans from 2002 through 2010.

He also presented the Lands Legacy annual action plan for 2001-2002, which the commissioners approved with minor changes.

"Last February, we decided we need to think beyond the one-year action plans," Stancil said. "We're trying to create a big-picture approach to challenges and opportunities of the next decade."

The Lands Legacy Program was adopted last April as a strategy for the county's acquisition and conservation of land with unique natural and cultural resources.

Among the priorities the document identified for the next decade are developing parklands and rivers in an environmentally responsible manner and securing about 4,500 acres of natural wildlife areas now identified as unprotected.

Other program goals include the preservation of farmlands and culturally and archaeologically significant areas. One project officials would like to complete before the county's 250-year anniversary next year is the identification of the site of the original county seat.

The 2001-2002 annual action plan pursues aspects of the county's long-term goals more modestly than last year's plan because financial resources for the coming year are limited, Stancil said.

He said most of last year's funds have been spent, and a bond referendum that officials hope will provide added money is not up for a vote until November.

"This is an in-between year," Stancil said. "We're going after some low-hanging fruit."

The board approved the annual action plan after altering it to include specific strategies for dealing with residents interested in cooperating to preserve land by selling it to the county.

"We do need this," Commissioner Barry Jacobs said. "It's a part of the Lands Legacy project."

Board Chairman Stephen Halkiotis said the meeting demonstrated the county's recent trend toward environmental concern.

"It was a wonderful example of how the county in the past couple of years has focused on protecting its natural resources," he said. "The commitment is there, and it seems to be solid."

Stancil said he found the board's reaction to both the action plan and the long-term document encouraging.

"Having worked in other locales, I think we have a citizenry that is interested in the conservation and preservation of its natural resources," he said. "That is very encouraging.

"We have a beautiful county, and people who live in this community value these natural resources."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.