As a torrent of new residents floods into North Carolina in unprecedented numbers, our farms, forests, streams and wildlife habitat are disappearing at an equally astonishing rate. If we don’t act soon, we may lose the natural beauty that has drawn so many people here.

Back in 1999, the General Assembly launched the Million Acre Initiative, a resolve to protect a million acres of open space within 10 years. With less than two years to go, we’re barely halfway to the goal. Without an extraordinary effort, there’s no way to get it done.

That’s a shame, and maybe a big problem. Since the legislature approved the initiative, the state has been losing open land at a growing rate. The preservation group Land for Tomorrow says the state has lost more than 300,000 acres since 2005.

A report by the organization breaks it down:

• Every hour, 21 people move here — 504 new people a day, 184,000 a year. And the pace is accelerating.
• The state has lost a million acres of forest land, another million of farmland and 14,000 farms since 1990.
• More than 76,000 acres of shellfish beds are closed because the water doesn’t meet public-health standards.
• More than 3,300 miles of streams don’t meet state water-quality standards.
• The cost of land has grown 300 percent in the past decade.

Those are worrisome trends. Coping with them won’t be cheap or easy. But ignoring them could be even more costly.

With half of the state’s residents depending on groundwater for their drinking water, it’s essential that large areas of green space be preserved to maintain the public water supply. And healthy natural resources are essential in preserving and enhancing two of this state’s biggest industries — tourism and agriculture.

As rising petroleum costs boost food prices, local agriculture will become increasingly important in coming decades. And across the nation, eco-tourism is becoming a major industry, enhancing the economies of areas blessed with natural beauty. Pollution and unrestrained development in those areas is economically self-destructive.

Land for Tomorrow is asking the General Assembly to appropriate $200 million a year for the next five years for land and water conservation efforts. That’s a tall bill, and lawmakers may have a hard time finding that kind of money.

But before they walk away from it, or appropriate far smaller amounts, our legislators should consider the long-term cost of not protecting that land and water. The toll could be dramatically greater.