Greetings!
If any of you folks enjoy gardening, you may know about the “Three Sisters” technique championed by the Iroquois. It involves growing corn, beans, and squash in the same plot. The corn creates the trellis for the beans; the squash shades the ground keeping it cool and acting as mulch; and the beans supply the ground with nitrogen while stabilizing the corn against the elements. The three, when planted together, create a sustainable and painless garden needing little involvement from the gardener (planting and harvesting aside) and requiring no crop rotation. The teamwork exemplified in nature never ceases to amaze.
Following that vein brings me to a current bill aiming to meddle with something similarly as low-maintenance and sustainable.
HB 44 Local Government Regulatory Reform 2015, an unassuming, one-page bill addressing overgrown city vegetation, left the House only to transform into an 18-page mini-behemoth involving a range of local government reforms and regulations. A provision slipped into the bill threatens to undermine river health by dissolving current protection of the lower Neuse and the entire Tar-Pamlico river basins.
Current law protects the natural vegetation within 50 feet of streams, river, and estuaries in those watersheds. In its naturally occurring form, the edge of the water and vegetation that occurs there creates an important barrier (riparian buffer) in the promotion of river health. Passage of HB 44 allows property owners to clear these areas for development purposes. While the aesthetic or pragmatic reasoning for development along the river basin may seem sound, the wide-ranging and long-term effects of eliminating buffers outweigh the benefits.
The literature on the subject is extensive and conclusively in favor of the preservation of riparian buffers, nature’s way of protecting itself. The buffers prevent erosion, stymie floodwater and rainwater run-off, filter pollutants, promote bio-diversity, and perhaps most importantly-maintain the status quo. The plants, groundwater, soil, and basin unite for collaborative health. Without intervention, a river changes very slowly over time. With man’s mindless meddling, a river can change rapidly and have far-reaching, costly effects. Nature can care less about the qualms of humanity; it is unforgiving and objectively unbiased in how it operates. Why mess with a good thing?
I hail from the great state of Minnesota where rivers, lakes, and streams are literally everywhere. Because they are ubiquitous and integral to life in the north (and because we’ve screwed up and learned from our mistakes), their preservation is a largely uncontested, bi-partisan issue. There is an understood consensus: a healthy river equals wise land management.
A vote for common sense is a vote against HB 44.
Peter Magner, Stanback Intern
NC League of Conservation Voters
The HotList is a weekly email the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV) sends out during session where we talk about relevant legislation and share information on key environmental issues as they come before the General Assembly. While primarily intended for elected representatives, the HotList is also made public to any and all who are concerned about the environment.
