GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2005

SESSION LAW 2005-26

SENATE BILL 586

AN ACT to authorize the addition of new state parks at carvers creek and in the hickory nut gorge/chimney rock area to the state parks system.

Whereas, Section 5 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution states that it shall be a proper function of the State of North Carolina to acquire and preserve park, recreational, and scenic areas and, in every other appropriate way, to preserve as a part of the common heritage of this State its open lands and places of beauty; and

Whereas, the General Assembly enacted the State Parks Act in 1987, declaring that the State of North Carolina offers unique archaeological, geological, biological, scenic, and recreational resources, and that such resources are part of the heritage of the people of the State to be preserved and managed by those people for their use and for the use of their visitors and descendants; and

Whereas, Carvers Creek and surrounding lands in Cumberland County represents an excellent example of the natural features of the Sandhills Region of North Carolina, with rolling hills, ravines, and narrow stream bottoms; and

Whereas, the Carvers Creek site includes endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, rare plants, high quality longleaf pine forests, wetlands, and other natural communities characteristic of the Sandhills; and

Whereas, the Carvers Creek site has been found to possess biological, scenic, and recreational resources of statewide significance; and

Whereas, the Hickory Nut Gorge/Chimney Rock area in and near western Rutherford County contains spectacular cliffs, rugged mountains, fissure caves, waterfalls, and unusually rich soils that support at least 36 rare plant species and 14 rare animals; and

Whereas, the Hickory Nut Gorge/Chimney Rock area is one of the major centers of biodiversity in North Carolina, and is also of great geological interest; and

Whereas, the Hickory Nut Gorge/Chimney Rock area has been found to possess biological, geological, scenic, and recreational resources of statewide significance; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  The General Assembly authorizes the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to add Carvers Creek State Park to the State Parks System as provided in G.S. 113-44.14(b).

SECTION 2.  The General Assembly authorizes the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to add a State Park unit located in the Hickory Nut Gorge/Chimney Rock area to the State Parks System as provided in G.S. 113-44.14(b).

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28^th day of April, 2005.

                                                        s/ Beverly E. Perdue

                                                         President of the Senate

                                                        s/ Richard T. Morgan

                                                         Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives

                                                        s/ Michael F. Easley

                                                         Governor

Approved 11:02 a.m. this 4^th day of May, 2005