RALEIGH, N.C. (April 12) — An ambitious, coordinated effort to preserve natural areas around the state is profiled in the April issue of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine.

One North Carolina Naturally, or ONCN, is a partnership among state agencies and nonprofit conservation groups. The ONCN plan aims to preserve the forests, farmlands and clean water that are disappearing in the face of rapid development.

“We are living beyond our means,” Bill Ross, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources, told the state’s wildlife magazine. “There are limits to the natural resources that we depend on, and we have to pay attention to those limits.”

Development by itself isn’t the problem, say environmentalists and governmental regulators. But haphazard development, also known as urban sprawl, chews up land twice as fast as the population increases.

Dozens of state, federal and nonprofit organizations already have recognized the problem and have begun acquiring natural space. But those efforts can be as piecemeal as the wasteful development patterns. The ONCN plan aims to coordinate those scattered initiatives.

Cooperation will make or break the ONCN plan — and not just by the various state agencies and nonprofits that crafted the document. Local governments must plan for growth on a regional basis. Otherwise, open space for parks, trails and larger preserves will continue to evaporate under development heat. ONCN participants already are working with local officials to identify future growth and preservation areas.

A cooperative relationship with private landowners is also essential; many of the targeted natural lands are in private hands. To gain landowners’ trust instead of hostility, ONCN planners deliberately downplay talk of regulations and condemnation, preferring to speak of assistance and incentives, both economic and informative.

Whether the ONCN plan ultimately succeeds is a matter of speculation. Already, the state’s budget crunch has weakened some of the pillars on which the plan itself rests. But no one can deny that the cooperative, multifaceted venture is a new direction for environmental planning in North Carolina.

Wildlife in North Carolina is published monthly by the N.C.Wildlife Resources Commission, an agency of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources. For subscription information, call toll-free (866) 945-3746, or subscribe online.

Return to Top

Return to News/Press Releases