MAY 14, 2009 ISSUE
High Country Water Projects On Hold After Governor Pulls Funding
As a result of Gov. Bev Perdue’s removal of $100 million from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund in February, 22 conservation and restoration projects in the High Country are on hold, including acquisition and restoration projects that would benefit the New River, one of the oldest rivers in the world.Twenty-two water conservation and restoration grants in the High Country are currently on hold, affecting projects in Watauga, Ashe and Avery counties. The grants, awarded by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund in 2008, are currently unfunded after Gov. Bev Perdue removed $100 million from the trust fund in February in the midst of a projected state budget shortfall.
Created in 1996, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF) makes grants to local governments, state agencies and conservation nonprofits to help finance projects that specifically address water pollution problems. CWMTF dollars are awarded primarily for four major purposes: land acquisitions, wastewater treatment improvements, storm water management and stream and wetlands restoration. The organization’s only source of funding is a direct appropriation from the General Assembly.
Typically, the CWMTF receives an annual state allocation of $100 million, said Lisa Schell, communications director for the CWMTF. The removal of $100 million from the trust fund has put nearly 200 grants awarded in 2008, worth about $98 million, on hold indefinitely.
“This is an extreme situation—we’ve never really quite been in this position before,” Schell said. “There is that risk of some projects being threatened.”
Among the grants on hold are eight awards for projects in Watauga County, seven awards for projects in Avery County and seven awards for projects in Ashe.
Schell, speaking last week, said she was unaware at the time of any 2008 projects that have been completely cancelled because of the pulled funding. But the lack of funding also puts into jeopardy any new projects that have requested grant funding in 2009. Thus far, the CWMTF has received more than 200 grant applications for fiscal year 2009-10, she said.
“It’s going to affect not just what we did in 2008 but our ability to do some projects in the next fiscal year,” Schell said. “Those projects are certainly at risk as well, even though they have not gone through the review process yet.”
The governor’s proposed 2009-10 state budget includes a $75 million appropriation for the CWMTF—$25 million less than its typical yearly allocation. The Senate version of the budget proposes a $95 million allocation for the CWMTF. The N.C. House of Representatives has not yet approved its version of the budget.
“We certainly understand the position that the governor is in,” Schell said. “We’ve been working with the governor’s office to do whatever can be done to minimize the impact of this. This is an extreme, extreme crisis, and we want to do our part to help.
“It’s just a very, very difficult time for all of state government right now,” she added.
In conjunction with the governor’s office, the CWMTF identified 20 wastewater and storm water projects that could be eligible for federal economic stimulus funding, and seven of them were selected to receive stimulus dollars, she said. None of the 20 projects submitted were in Ashe, Watauga or Avery counties.
Watauga County projects affected by the held funding include grants to Appalachian State University and the National Committee for the New River for improvements to Boone Creek, a grant to the National Committee for the New River for restoration of the Boone Greenway, a grant to N.C. Parks and Recreation for acquisition of the Snake Mountain tract affecting the North Fork of the New River, a grant to the Resource Institute for the Pine Orchard Creek restoration, a grant to Watauga County for Greenway improvements and a grant to the Western North Carolina Alliance for restoration along the Watauga River.
Julie Mayfield, executive director of the Western NC Alliance, said a $580,000 grant awarded to her organization in 2008 was intended for a project to restore a stretch of river on the Upper Watauga River that is severely eroded. The project entails rebuilding and stabilizing a steep riverbank and in-stream work to direct the river away from the bank. Mayfield said that all of the design work is complete and that the alliance was in conservation easement negotiations with landowners when the governor pulled the funding.
“It’s all on hold now,” Mayfield said. “We are looking for alternative sources of funding with either federal agencies or stimulus money. We’re still very much hoping to get it done.”
In Avery County, grants on hold include a grant to the Town of Banner Elk for improvements to Shawneehaw Creek, grants to The Nature Conservancy of North Carolina for two land acquisitions in the county, a grant to Pilot View Restoration, Conservation and Development for Linville River watershed restoration and three grants to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy for land acquisition and other projects.
Carl Silverstein, executive director of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC), said the organization purchased four tracts of land in the Roan Mountain area in 2008. Two tracts had been on the real estate market, and two others were being sold in a bank auction, he said. All of these tracts were high priorities for the SAHC because of their location on Roan Mountain, their clean water and wildlife attributes and their scenic qualities and proximity to the Appalachian Trail. The SAHC secured loans and private donations to purchase the tracts.
The CWMTF grants were approved to help SAHC retire the $2 million in outstanding debt on the tracts, Silverstein explained. Grants were awarded for three of the tracts in 2008, and an application for grant funding for the fourth tract was submitted in February 2009, he said.
The governor’s action will lengthen the amount of time it takes the SAHC to pay back the loans, Silverstein noted.
“If something were to happen, and they would not be able to award those grants in the future, we would be in the difficult place of having to come up with that money from some other source, which would be very challenging,” he said.
The Nature Conservancy of North Carolina is a leading land conservation organization that often partners with various agencies, land trusts and other groups on land acquisition projects affecting water quality. Several grants from the CWMTF to the Nature Conservancy are on hold, including grants for two tracts in Avery County affecting the North Toe River.
“All of the clean water applications that we were expecting funding for have been withdrawn basically,” said Merrill Lynch, protection specialist in the conservancy’s Northern Mountains office. “It put us in a standstill. All of the projects … they’re just dead in the water at this point.
“I can’t over-emphasize the severity, not just for the Nature Conservancy, but for all the land trusts,” he added.
In putting together conservation agreements, most land trusts cobble together money from a lot of different sources, including the CWMTF, federal sources and private donors, Lynch said. In many cases, private money is pledged to match funding from the CWMTF. But if funding from the CWMTF doesn’t come through, the private funding might not come through either, he pointed out.
“Most of the funding sources like to see their funds leveraging other monies,” he said. “It makes the task complicated when you’re the land trust trying to put the deal together, getting money from multiple places, and then it’s like a stack of dominoes—if one of the dominoes is taken out of the stack, then the whole thing crumbles.”
In some cases, landowners may be willing to wait and hope that the grant funding eventually comes through. In other cases, he said, the landowners can’t afford to wait and will be forced to put their properties on the real estate market.
One of the tracts in Avery County is the Rhyne tract. Lynch said that private matching funds are in place for this acquisition, and the conservancy could possibly find more private donations.
The Nature Conservancy also partnered with the High Country Conservancy on a land acquisition of the Bluff Mountain tract in Ashe County. A grant for $710,000 for the acquisition was granted by the CWMTF in 2008. Lynch said the conservancies were ready to sign a contract with the landowner when the governor pulled the funding. He said the project is currently on hold and that the parties are hoping the grant funding comes through in the next funding cycle.
“If not, we’re not sure we have any plans or options on finding additional funds,” he said.
Additional grants on hold in Ashe County include awards to the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust for acquisition of the Pond Mountain track near Big Horse Creek and a project affecting Helton Creek, awards to the National Committee for the New River for restoration projects near the North and South Forks of the New River and Old Field Creek and an award to the Town of West Jefferson for storm water improvements for Little Buffalo Creek.
For more information about the CWMTF, click to www.cwmtf.net.
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