| "Our
Common Wealth" - Article by
John C. Barber, NNLC Advisory
Board, January 2004 |
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Since the settlement of
Jamestown
, natural resources have provided a continuous
stream of wealth. For over three and a
half centuries, the flow of grain, livestock,
fruits, vegetables, fossil fuels, fish, lumber,
oysters, and tobacco, has sustained the economy
of the Northern Neck and
Middle
Peninsula
.
Money, the “oil” of commerce and our
lifestyles, moves about freely, but natural
resources are linked to the land. Forests,
farmland and fisheries, while vulnerable if
careful stewardship is not exercised, all fall
into the category of renewable resources.
They will continue to provide their bounty in
the future. This is not the case with most
natural resources. Specifically, once such
resources as sand, gravel, coal, oil, and other
minerals have been extracted, they will not
return to satisfy the needs of future
generations. In our lifetimes, this may
not seem important. We often think in
terms of a world economy supplying all of our
needs on demand, whether or not this causes
resources to dwindle.
But
let’s look ahead to the world our children and
grandchildren will inhabit. We know that the
world population is increasing rapidly. We
know that the population of the
United States
is increasing rapidly, and that our Commonwealth
is a part of it. If we add one or two
million people to
Virginia
’s population, where will they live? How
will they impact our area and the productivity of
our renewable natural resources? Look around
the region. Where are the sites that are
easiest and cheapest for building and
development?—on prime agricultural and forest
lands! But once homes are built or other
development takes place on the land, it is an
irreversible decision that takes land out of
production forever. No more wealth will be
generated by those resources.
We can accommodate the increasing population and
demands for homes with sound planning that will
let us keep most of our farms and forests in
manageable units that can continue to produce
wealth from the land and waters. Keeping our
farms and forests productive provides income to
owners and employment to workers, sustains the
local businesses that supply and service them,
provides materials that feed other businesses, and
contributes to the tax base, thereby reducing the
burden on the individual citizen.
To put the role of farms and forests in
perspective, in 1997 (the year for which we have
the most recent data) cash receipts from crops
were over $80 million in our ten-county area,
about equal between the Northern Neck and
Middle
Peninsula
. This was an average of $325 for each acre
harvested. Add to this total $7.5 million
from livestock, and $ 31 as the stumpage value
paid for timber. The timber figure does not
include any value added or employment value.
The total is $ 118.5 million in receipts.
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Keeping the lands in productive farms and
forests provides more than just an economic
benefit. The beautiful and quiet countryside
is sought out by tourists, and is one of
the factors attracting many new residents
and summer-home buyers. Fields and
forests provide for the myriad of wildlife
habitats for game birds and animals, and
for the many non-game birds and animals
that balance the environment. They
are places to visit and explore. Our
countryside becomes a place to relax and
enjoy life.
As
you look around yourself at the usually
incremental changes in our countryside and
communities, what are the things that you
see that detract from your life style and
pleasure? What are the things that you
see that, if continued, will impact the
economy of the area as well as your
happiness? While any one of the many
changes may not seem to negatively impact
the area in a measurable sense today, what
will be the cumulative effect over the next
five to ten years or fifty years?
Consider that the Chesapeake Bay absorbed
many changes over three hundred years and
for the most part continued to supply a
bountiful harvest, until “suddenly,” as
it seemed, the cumulative effects of
pollution, excess nutrients entering its
waters, and man’s over fishing brought the
bay to its present “poor” condition.
This example reminds us that we need to look
ahead and try to avoid the “sneak
attack” by small incremental actions which
will reduce our economy and way of life in
rural eastern
Virginia
.
We can’t freeze everything in place, but
we can make decisions that minimize negative
impacts. We can provide incentives to
keep our forests and our farms productive,
and we can designate areas for development
that best utilize our lands and
infrastructure, and continue to support our
rural lifestyles.
We can work together to accomplish these
things first by looking at our collective
Vision for the Future, and then by
objectively working to select and implement
the best options for realizing that Vision.
Whatever is done will not be perfect or
completely satisfy every citizen, but by
preserving the character of this area it
might help satisfy a certain need found in
abundance in people in the Northern Neck and
Middle Peninsula, and that is the need to
live and work in a rural place.
Doing nothing now condemns the future of the
two peninsulas that bracket the
Rappahannock
River
. Given the beauty of the coastal
areas, there may be glitz and glamour in
that future. But without careful
planning, the satisfying mesh of natural
beauty and natural productivity could be
lost forever. |
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