North Carolina Constitution

The State's Constitution appears to be addressing this situation directly.

Sec. 5. Conservation of natural resources. It shall be the policy of this State to conserve and protect its lands and waters for the benefit of all its citizenry, and to this end it shall be a proper function of the State of North Carolina and its political subdivisions to acquire and preserve park, recreational, and scenic areas, to control and limit the pollution of our air and water, to control excessive noise, and in every other appropriate way to preserve as a part of the common heritage of this State its forests, wetlands estuaries, beaches, historical sites, openlands, and places of beauty.

link to N.C. Constitution

North Carolina Statutes

Chapter 113 of the State's Statutes provide the mechanism for achieving the objective set forth in the Constitution.

The following page is excerpted from the General Assembly's website, which lists all State statutes. The entire Chapter (very large file) can be viewed at: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/statutes/statutes%5Fin%5Fhtml/chp1130.ht ml

Chapter 113. Conservation and Development.

SUBCHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ARTICLE 1.
Powers and Duties of Department of Environment and
Natural Resources Generally.

(skip to 113-34)

§ 113-34. Power to acquire lands as State
forests, parks, etc.; donations or leases by United States;
leases for recreational purposes; rules governing public use.
(a) The Governor of the State is authorized upon
recommendation of the Department to accept gifts of land to the
State, the same to be held, protected, and administered by said
Department as State forests, and to be used so as to demonstrate
the practical utility of timber culture and water conservation,
and as refuges for game. Such gifts must be absolute except in
such cases as where the mineral interest on the land has
previously been sold. The Department shall have the power to
purchase lands in the name of the State, suitable chiefly for the
production of timber, as State forests, for experimental,
demonstration, educational, park, and protection purposes, using
for such purposes any special appropriations or funds available.
The Department shall also have the power to acquire by
condemnation under the provisions of Chapter 40, such areas of
land in different sections of the State as may in the opinion of
the Department be necessary for the purpose of establishing
and/or developing State forests, State parks and other areas and
developments essential to the effective operation of the State
forestry and State park activities with which the Department has
been or may be entrusted. Such condemnation proceedings shall be
instituted and prosecuted in the name of the State of North
Carolina, and any property so acquired shall be administered,
developed and used for experiment and demonstration in forest
management, for public recreation and for such other purposes
authorized or required by law: Provided, that before any action
or proceeding under this section can be exercised, the approval
of the Governor and Council of State shall be obtained and filed
with the clerk of the superior court in the county or counties
where such property may be situate, and until such approval is
obtained, the rights and powers conferred by this section shall
not be exercised. The Attorney General of the State is directed
to see that all deeds to the State for land mentioned in this
section are properly executed before the gift is accepted or
payment of the purchase money is made.