NI in NC
Emerging Issues Forum - February 9, 2009
Economic Benefits of Green Infrastructure
We have heard at this Emerging Issues Forum about the need for new jobs and infrastructure, and indeed these are important goals. Today, I hope to persuade you to also invest in the green infrastructure that is essential to North Carolina’s economic success. I will address three points:
Why Land Matters
The Economic Benefits of Land Conservation
Strategies for Action
These are tough times. When Great Britain had similar economic problems, Winston Churchill addressed Parliament saying, “Gentlemen, we are out of money; Now we must think."
With economy derailed, it is understandable to think that our goal is simply get the train back on the tracks. If we build roads, create jobs, and restart the housing market, all will be well. But Einstein once said that “No problem can be solved with the same level of intelligence that created it." The people that invented and promoted mortgage-backed derivatives were certainly intelligent, but were they wise? Overcoming this economic crisis will require new thinking. In the past, many thought that economic growth had to come at the expense of environmental quality, but, in the economy of the future, environmental quality will be a prerequisite for sustainable growth.
We certainly need to get the train moving again, but let’s be careful to choose tracks that get us where we really want to go. As you plan North Carolina’s future growth, our vision should be guided by the values we share in common. Of course, we value the opportunity for people to work, reach their potential and support their families. But we also value good education, public safety, strong families, and community. We value health, clean water, and safe, fresh food. And, in the midst of life’s inevitable suffering, we value that elusive thing called happiness. Benjamin Franklin once said that the Declaration of Independence "calls for the pursuit of happiness - you have to catch up with it on your own!"
The land is the great canvas on which we paint the patterns of our life. We are inseparable from the land and natural communities. We depend on the land for clean water, fresh food, places for our children to play. The happiest moments of our lives are linked to some special place - a trout stream, a lake, a garden, a park, a trail. Indeed, land forms our identity. As the Southern poet Wendell Berry says, “You can't know who you are unless you know where you are."
North Carolina is blessed with natural beauty from the Outer Banks to the great Smoky's.
Of North Carolina’s 31 million acres, 19 million are still in a relatively natural state, but things are changing fast. Every day in North Carolina, 383 acres of farm and natural lands are converted into subdivisions, roads, shopping centers. North Carolina already leads the nation in the loss of farm and forest lands - over a million acres in just 10 years, and, once we get through this recession, it will grow 50 percent to 12 million people in just 20 years. With this population pressure, the land that we conserve now will determine the both the beauty and the prosperity of North Carolina for centuries to come.
2. The Economic Benefits of Land Conservation
Tourism
According to the State Division of Tourism, scenery is North Carolina’s strongest draw for tourism, a $17 billion industry that employs 200,000 people.
The Blue Ridge Parkway alone attracts nearly 20 million visitors and contributes more than $2 billion to the regional economy each year.
People who hunt and fish spend $2.7 billion annually in North Carolina.
Agriculture
In NC, agriculture is a $68 billion annual business which employs 17 percent of the workforce. During the 1990’s NC any state except Ohio and Texas.
Fisheries
On the coast of North Carolina, the marshes and barrier islands are the nursery room for one of the most productive fisheries in the country. Commercial fishing supports over 27,000 jobs in NC, not to mention the 1.6 million recreational fishermen. And, as an added benefit, NC’s coastal wetlands provide $620 million in storm protection services every year.
Retirees
NC’s natural beauty is responsible for attracting retirees to the state. In general, these immigrants are affluent and bring economic resources without the cost of providing public schools for their children. A county with the natural beauty attract to attract 1000 retired residents will get the same economic benefit of a new business with 1000 employees.
New Jobs
In the decades ahead, the best paying jobs will go where the most talented people want to live. And those people will choose communities with the highest quality of life. In a survey of 174 business owners that had started, relocated, or expanded facilities in the previous five years, the owners reported that quality of life was their main reason for relocating. Among six elements that were used to measure quality of life, they ranked parks, recreation, and open space amenities as being most important.
Ecosystem Services
In many cases the smartest economic decision is to leave land in its natural state. New York City has the best public drinking water in the world. The water is piped from reservoirs nestled in the forests of the Catskills Mountains. But as those forests were developed, runoff and septic tanks threatened the reservoirs and EPA ordered the City of New York to build $5 billion of water filtration plants. New York did some good thinking and proposed an alternative. They realized that they might not have to build treatment plants if they could keep the forests in a natural state. According to research by the American Waterworks Association, for every 10 percent increase in forest cover, there is a 20 percent decrease in the cost of water treatment. New York negotiated a waiver from EPA in exchange for a commitment to invest $300 million in land conservation over the next 10 years – a savings of $4.7 billion!
Cost of Public Services
It’s common for elected officials in rural communities believe that new development will bring in new tax revenues that will benefit the community. But this often turns out to be “fools gold”. The typical new subdivision costs $1.15 to provide services for every dollar of tax revenue – and some are as high as $1.50. In contrast, farm and forest lands use only .34 for every dollar of property taxes. So farm and forests generate a net revenue gain for local governments compared to converting that land to subdivisions. It would be much smarter to encourage denser development in existing community centers were roads, sewers, water, and schools are already in place.
Parks and natural areas are actually a good real estate investment. Research in Portland, Oregon and Austin Texas shows home near natural areas get a 20 percent premium. Boulder, CO shows that home values decrease $10.20 for every foot away from a greenway. And the property taxes from the increased valuations often pay back the purchase price of the park land.
Create a Conservation Plan
Environmentalists are great for saying we are against. But we now need to start saying what we are for – for actually showing up and endorsing development in the right places. Instead of fighting one zoning battle at a time, let’s find a new way for where environmentalists, developers and neighbors to come together to create a consensus on what places should be protected and where we should encourage development. To help communities to make decisions about future growth, North Carolina has developed a wonderful resource called NC Naturally Conservation Planning Tool.
Scientists say 20 percent should be set aside to ensure that natural systems but it needs to be the right 20 percent. North Carolina has about half that. We all know that there is smart growth and dumb growth. But you may not know is that there is smart conservation and dumb conservation. Too much conservation results in a scatter shot of isolated parcels that end up being a kind of conservation sprawl. The key is good conservation planning is to set priorities, protect landscape scale ecosystems, and look for multiple benefits for people, water, wildlife, farmland, and forests.
Support Smart Growth
I believe that the best way to conserve land is to make our cities livable and support smart growth zoning. Smart growth sounds smart, but without careful controls it will simply create a zoning precedent for a higher-density version of sprawl. Smart growth is smart only if it is linked to transit, encourages walkable communities and protects greenspace that balances that increased density. Families move to the suburbs for good schools, safety and to provide their children places to play, and we have to address all three concerns if the market will choose to live in denser communities. We need to incorporate play grounds, walking and bike trails that link neighborhoods with schools, libraries, and shopping and, for smart growth to work, we need to surround these dense nodes with large, permanently protected natural areas.
Support Funding for Land Conservation
Pass a local bond issue for land conservation
Support state funding for greenspace as recommended by Land for Tomorrow coalition
Tell your congressional representative that you support federal tax incentives for land conservation and increased funding for Land and Water Conservation Fund
Support Your Local Land Trust
America’s 1700 non profit land trusts, working in partnership with local and state government, have protected over 37 million acres across America. My group, the Land Trust Alliance, leads and serves this community by setting the ethical standards, training, accrediting land trusts across the country. Most important, we are the voice for land trusts in Washington, DC and we recently convinced Congress to pass a tax incentive for private land owners to donate the development rights on their land through a legal instrument called a conservation easement. Depending on the value of the land, this powerful incentive could mean that a farmer could pay no federal income taxes for 16 years. In North Carolina, this incentive is largely responsible for doubling the pace of easement donations from 90 to 225 per year. It is clearly an idea that’s working. Now we need to make this tax incentive a permanent part of the tax code.
There are 35 excellent land trusts working right here in North Carolina. A coalition of 13 land trusts is working together on Blue Ridge Forever, an initiative to protect 50,000 acres of the most important natural lands in five years. Right here in Raleigh, the Triangle Land Conservancy has protected over 100 parks and natural areas in the six county metropolitan area.
The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust was selected by the US Marine Corps to be its conservation partner in protecting lands surrounding their Air Station at Cherry Point in Carteret County and they along with The Nature Conservancy are doing similar work around Camp Lejeune.
Military bases in Eastern NC bring jobs and economic development to a region that has long been dependent on tobacco, and has been losing jobs steadily due to the decline in tobacco and tobacco-dependent businesses. North Carolina is particularly lucky in that we can match federal Dept of Defense dollars 1-to-1 with state Clean Water Management Trust Fund dollars. The Coastal Land Trust has already completed four acquisitions in partnership with the Department of Defense and is working on an additional 6 acquisitions totaling over $20 million.
Conclusion
North Carolina is competing against the entire world for jobs, investments, and tourists. You start this race with enormous advantages: beautiful mountains; abundant farmland; livable cities; and a terrific university system. As you plan for future growth, think about what you want North Carolina to look like in 30 years? What is your “brand”?
If you want to compete with cheap labor and lax regulations, China and Mexico will beat you every time. Do you want Atlanta’s traffic and sprawl; Detroit’s urban blight; the scenery of the New Jersey Turnpike? North Carolina already has a winning brand – it just needs to be protected and enhanced. An investment in green infrastructure today will yield rich and sustainable rewards for years to come.
The choice is yours.
