Are you happy now that the state saved all this money for you, and yet needs you to pay more to sustain appropriations? Maybe we could fire a few more teachers.
The Conservation Fund purchased 786 acres of land, including “key headwaters of the French Broad River,” from the family of former Congressman Charles Taylor. Dick Ludington, “senior associate with the fund,” referred to the purchase price, $4125/acre, as a “bargain for the taxpayers of North Carolina.” The fund intends to purchase all 8000 acres of the Taylor tract in six phases. However, getting the land out of private hands and under management of the NC Wildlife Resource Commission is, according to the Hendersonville Times-News, “contingent upon support from state and federal conservation funding programs.”
The fund’s stated purpose is to “leverage conservation dollars from our public and private partners, saving taxpayers more than $1 billion in purchase costs to date on lands valued in excess of $3.6 billion.” The Taylor tract was purchased with private donations and a contribution from the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund, an “independent” government agency. The property is adjacent to land “acquired in 1999 through the fund, by the [South Carolina] Department of Natural Resources.”
Now, we all know the state is plagued with budget deficits, so it is very important that we continue this process of saving taxpayers money, right?
Ludington said people interested in the conservation should contact local lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly and encourage them to support the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
