North Carolina Land Trusts

Today we learned in class about land trusts and it got me thinking to just how many land trusts are out there? While I didn’t research every state, I looked up how many are here in North Carolina. It turns out that there are 25 and they have a website…


http://www.nclandtrusts.org/

When looking at the website it shows a map with the location of each land trust scattered throughout North Carolina and I noticed a trend. Apart from 2 trusts that are decently close to the shore, all of the trusts are on the western – middle area of North Carolina.

Talking about one of the key aspects of land trusts, they are indeed useful in showing and providing economic growth and sustainability while protecting our environment and natural habitat. So then why wouldn’t North Carolina sanction for one near the coastal areas? Is it because of the coasts popularity in tourism and economic growth? In my last blog, and in class we have also discussed the importance of politicians behind your cause. I think that if a land trust was set up somewhere along the coast, encouraged and supported by politicians and local communities North Carolina could really become a pioneer in changing the face on tourism, economic growth, and sustainability all at the same time.


These land trusts remind me of how Elon is in a similar situation. It’s great that we have the land trusts throughout the state, but they are only concentrated in one area and do not pertain to any of the coastal regions. Elon University is in a similar situation. They just built Linder which was a great “green” building, but what about all the other buildings on campus that are not certified and do not compost/recycle to their full abilities? How do we make changes more widespread and permanent to cover a whole range of issues?

Over and Out

-Janice