Each year as the General Assembly decides how to spend North Carolina's money, it is vital that citizens speak out on behalf of four programs that have an irreplaceable role in protecting "what once made us special," in the words of the June 1 Journal editorial "Saving Farmland."

Our four conservation trust funds may not be household names, but they offer critical financial support for conserving our clean air and water, our spectacular natural attractions and the farms that help drive our economy. Grants from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund, the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, and the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund are a major means of protecting the assets that make North Carolina such a wonderful place to live.

Budget writers in the state House have recognized the need for state support of land and water conservation, including $50 million in new appropriations for Land for Tomorrow's Parks and Conservation Lands Acquisition" in their spending proposal released this week.

The plan also includes $4 million specifically for the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund — a good proposal, but one that would be even better if it were doubled to support North Carolina's biggest industry. The state's newest trust fund is, perhaps, the most important to the future of the Piedmont, where we are losing agricultural property at an alarming pace. The Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund helps buy development rights to agricultural land, which gives farmers the financial support to continue working their fields. Without this option, many more local farmers will be forced to sell their property to developers.

Similarly threatened areas receive support from the other three trust funds. The value of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund was made abundantly clear over the past year as North Carolinians gained a fresh perspective on their need for clean, abundant water. The impact of the drought could have been even worse if not for a decade of trust-fund support for projects to protect water supplies such as the crystal clear waters of the Mitchell River and other tributaries to the Yadkin River.

As the Journal reported Monday, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund will be asked to help recover half the $1.9 million purchase price of a 410-acre tract in the Highlands of Roan, recently protected by The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy ("410 acres bought to preserve"). The permanent conservation of this southern Avery County land will have multiple benefits — saving views from the Appalachian Trail, headwaters that feed into Roaring Creek and the North Toe River, and habitat for rare, threatened and endangered plant species.

The Natural Heritage Trust Fund also protects North Carolina's plants and animals by helping to acquire land that can be opened to the public as parks or for hunting and fishing, and that contain rare species of plants and animals. Without these dollars, the newly formed Mayo River State Park and Haw River State Park would have little chance of acquiring the property needed to meet their growing demand.

Cities and towns across North Carolina apply to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to help purchase parkland and recreational amenities — ballparks, buildings and equipment they might otherwise be unable to afford. Drive by a local ballfield on any recent warm evening or hike past the cliffs and waterfalls at Hanging Rock State Park, and you will see that the public is getting its money's worth.

Though these funds assist with a variety of land-conservation initiatives, they all contribute to one common thread — protecting our quality of life. With projections of a 50 percent population increase looming in the next 25 years, we must protect what is most important to us today so that our children will enjoy these same special places tomorrow. North Carolina's trust funds lead us by investing in what is uniquely beautiful about the state we love.