§ 139-2. Legislative determinations, and declaration of policy.
§139‑2. Legislative determinations, and declaration of policy.
(a) LegislativeDeterminations. It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislativedetermination:
(1) The Condition. Thefarm, forest and grazing lands of the State of North Carolina are among thebasic assets of the State and the preservation of these lands is necessary toprotect and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of its people;improper land‑use practices have caused and have contributed to, and arenow causing and contributing to, a progressively more serious erosion of thefarm and grazing lands of this State by wind and water; the breaking of naturalgrass, plant, and forest cover has interfered with the natural factors of soilstabilization, causing loosening of soil and exhaustion of humus, anddeveloping a soil condition that favors erosion; the topsoil is being blown andwashed out of fields and pastures; there has been an accelerated washing ofsloping fields; these processes of erosion by wind and water speed up withremoval of absorptive topsoil, causing exposure of less absorptive and lessprotective but more erosive subsoil; failure by any land occupier to conservethe soil and control erosion upon his lands causes a washing and blowing ofsoil and water from his lands onto other lands and makes the conservation ofsoil and control of erosion on such other lands difficult or impossible.
(2) The Consequences. The consequences of such soil erosion in the form of soil‑blowing andsoil‑washing are the silting and sedimentation of stream channels,reservoirs, dams, ditches, and harbors; the loss of fertile soil material indust storms; the piling up of soil on lower slopes, and its deposit overalluvial plains; the reduction in productivity or outright ruin of rich bottomlandsby overwash of poor subsoil material, sand, and gravel swept out of the hills;deterioration of soil and its fertility, deterioration of crops grown thereon,and declining acre yields despite development of scientific processes forincreasing such yields; loss of soil and water which causes destruction of foodand cover for wildlife; a blowing and washing of soil into streams which siltsover spawning beds, and destroys water plants, diminishing the food supply offish; a diminishing of the underground water reserve, which causes watershortages, intensifies periods of drought, and causes crop failures; anincrease in the speed and volume of rainfall runoff, causing severe andincreasing floods, which bring suffering, disease, and death; impoverishment offamilies attempting to farm eroding and eroded lands; damage to roads,highways, railways, farm buildings, and other property from floods and fromdust storms; and losses in navigation, hydroelectric power, municipal watersupply, drainage developments, farming, and grazing.
(3) The AppropriateCorrective Methods. To conserve soil resources and control and prevent soilerosion and prevent floodwater and sediment damages, and further theconservation, utilization, and disposal of water, and the development of waterresources it is necessary that land‑use practices contributing to soilwastage and soil erosion be discouraged and discontinued, and appropriate soil‑conservingland‑use practices and works of improvement for flood prevention or theconservation, utilization, and disposal of water and the development of waterresources be adopted and carried out. Among the procedures necessary forwidespread adoption, are the carrying on of engineering operations such as theconstruction of terraces, terrace outlets, check‑dams, desilting basins,floodwater retarding structures, channel improvements, floodways, dikes, ponds,ditches, and the like; the utilization of strip cropping, lister furrowing,contour cultivating, contour furrowing, farm drainage, land irrigation; seedingand planting of waste, sloping, abandoned, or eroded lands with water‑conservingand erosion‑ preventing plants, trees, and grasses; forestation andreforestation; rotation of crops; soil stabilization with trees, grasses,legumes, and other thick‑growing, soil‑ holding crops; the additionof soil amendments, manurial materials, and fertilizers for the correction ofsoil deficiencies and to promote increased growth of soil‑ protectingcrops; retardation of runoff by increasing absorption of rainfall; andretirement from cultivation of steep, highly erosive areas and areas now badlygullied or otherwise eroded.
(b) Declaration ofPolicy. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature to providefor the conservation of the soil and soil resources of this State, and for thecontrol and prevention of soil erosion, and for the prevention of floodwaterand sediment damages, and for furthering the conservation, utilization, anddisposal of water, and the development of water resources and thereby topreserve natural resources, control floods, prevent impairment of dams andreservoirs, assist in maintaining the navigability of rivers and harbors,preserve wildlife, protect the tax base, protect public lands, and protect andpromote the health, safety and general welfare of the people of this State. (1937,c. 393, s. 2; 1947, c. 131, s. 1; 1959, c. 781, ss. 2, 3.)