County needs to protect resources

R. Michael Erwin Albemarle County
Published: July 25, 2008

The article “Albemarle the leader in state” (The Daily Progress, July 11) refers to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s visit here to award the state’s first matching grant to the holder of a conservation easement. Gov. Kaine said, “Albemarle has really been the leader in this [conservation easements] in Virginia.”

It is very positive news to hear that we lead Virginia in this effort. Although it receives a paltry $1-$1.5 million a year on average, the county’s Acqui-sition of Conservation Easements program has protected 5,560 acres since 2000.

While the program is making good strides at protecting rural farmlands from development, ACE is not a program designed to protect biological diversity. A crisis that is little known to most of our citizens is the loss of biological diversity in the United States and globally. Natural habitats are being lost at astounding rates and with them go water quality, air quality and a sustainable environment.

What are needed are some bold funding initiatives that both ramp up the ACE program and include natural resource and wildlife protection. We need to develop a mechanism that preserves rural lands for agricultural and forestry uses, but further, recognizes “conservation use” (non-commodity) as a co-equal.

The federal Conservation Reserve Program is a useful model for effectively setting aside marginal lands to benefit native wildlife and plants. Funding initiatives that should be explored include:

* Floating a bond issue to expand the easements program to $25 million per year or more.

* Working with state legislators to determine how a percentage of real estate recordation taxes could be directed to county “open space” funds, as is commonly practiced in many other states.

Lastly, the county needs to strengthen its rural area staff to enhance resource protection, which has long been overshadowed by growth-area planning. The county’s Natural Heritage Committee, formed three years ago with a mission to provide leadership in protecting natural resources, has been struggling to operate with no budget at all the past two years.

The fact that true sustainability is inexorably linked to biological diversity should persuade our county leaders that greater resource protection is critical.