2011annual report

BOARDDon Moffitt Chair

Eno River Association

Kris Thornburg Vice-Chair

Environmental Defense Fund

Julie Mayfield Treasurer

Western NC Alliance

Sandra Rodríguez Secretary

Triangle Community Foundation

Teresa Bratton

Kemp BurdetteCape Fear River Watch

Yola CarloughBurt’s Bees

Donna ChavisNCGives

Rick GaskinsCatawba Riverkeeper Foundation

Neasha GravesUNC Environmental Resource Program

Easter Maynard

Naeema MuhammadNC Environmental Justice Network

Peter RaabeAmerican Rivers

Ulla ReevesSouthern Alliance for Clean Energy

Jack SpruillPenderWatch & Conservancy

Gudrun ThompsonSouthern Environmental Law Center

*Board member organizations are listed for informational purposes only.

STAFFBrian Buzby Executive Director

Dan Conrad Legislative Counsel

Mindy Hiteshue Business Manager

Brittany Iery Public Alert Organizer

Grady McCallie Policy Director

Stephanie Schweickert Affiliate Organizer

Nicole Stewart Development Director

Peter Walz Organizing Director

Table of Con

tents

mission&Programs 2

Ahistoricallybadyear 4

HowweBluntedtheEnvironmentalRollbacks 6

buildingamovementnotamoment 7

Countit!DurhamTransitReferendumsuccess 8

2012&Beyond 10

2011Financials 12

2011OrganizationalAffiliates 13

2011Supporters 14

Table of Con

tents

1

The NC Conservation Network was formed in 1998 to strengthen the NC environmental community. Our mission is to support, train, and coordinate diverse groups and directly advocate to achieve equitable and sustainable solutions for our environment. To fulfill our mission, we:

mission & Programs

COORDINATE coalitions on the community’s top issues.

We coordinate the Watershed Alliance and the legisla-

tive advocacy team, which helps the NC environmental

community work together on legislative strategy. In addi-

tion, we coordinate shorter-term efforts on other issues

such as promoting renewable energy, fighting efforts to

gut the state’s air toxics program, reducing toxics, and

advocating for funding of environmental protection in

the state budget process, among others.

2

SUPPORT campaigns to protect North Carolina’s air,

water, and quality of life through grassroots mobilization.

The NC Conservation Network’s Public Alert project

recruits interested members of the public and provides

them with the information they need to make a differ-

ence on key environmental issues. The Public Alert

network—now more than 14,000 members strong—has

supported issues ranging from greening the budget, to

protecting beaches from hardened structures, to push-

ing for better water management policies.

STRENGTHEN environmental organizations. The NC

Conservation Network organizes various trainings,

including our Annual Conference for our nearly 100 affil-

iate organizations to help sharpen their organizational

and campaign skills. We also distribute information

including the News Digest, Weekly Alert, and the Legis-

lative Update, which together cover the activities of the

media, legislature, and administration.

3

2011 was a historically bad year for North Carolina.

Our state experienced deadly tornadoes, Hurricane Irene,

and a crippling economy. In addition, our state watched

as a tidal wave of anti-environmental legislators swept

into the General Assembly after the November 2010

election. For the first time in over 100 years, Republicans

controlled both the North Carolina House and Senate.

And, as a result, we were busier than ever fighting

devastating rollbacks of state environmental and public

health protections.

Even in the most favorable of climates, environmen-

tal legislation often faces an uphill battle against well-

funded opponents. But now, things looked grim. We had

no access with legislative leaders and little hope for

getting anything we wanted—either passing proactive

or preventing devastating legislation. We knew this was

going to be a long, hard fight. We were wrong—it was

much worse.

The major polluters and newly elected, right-wing, parti-

san extremists were ready with their bills at the start of

session—dozens of them. We watched in amazement,

as more continued to emerge throughout the first few

weeks. We jumped into the fray but made sure we put

most of our resources into stopping the most destructive

rollback proposals:

REGULATORY REFORM S781, buries North Caro-

lina regulators and business in red tape (slowing

down environmental protections) and has potential

to bring many state protections down to the very

bare minimum.

TERMINAL GROINS S110, threatens our natu-

ral beaches by allowing hardened structures on

the coastline. These structures trap sand, caus-

ing erosion on nearby beaches. This could lead to

a domino effect in which the state’s beaches are

covered in unattractive jetties and similar structures.

MASSIVE BUDGET CUTS to the Department of

Environment and Natural Resources and key envi-

ronmental programs (like Clean Water Management

Trust Fund). The budget also included a damaging

provision that no state rule shall be stronger than

federal rules.

RELIANCE ON FOSSIL FUELS S709, opens our

coast to the risk of oil spills from offshore drilling, as

well as bring our state closer to allowing the contro-

versial practice of hydrofracking.

41

The Freshman class of lawmakers overall has proved themselves to be one of the most

ideologically conservative in nearly 20 years

A Historical Yearly bad

FY11–13 budget cuts

Department of Environment &

Natural Resources lost 22%

Clean Water Management Trust

Fund lost 88.5%

Wildlife Resources Commission

lost 25%

North Carolina businessleaders

spoke up this year in favor of

strong environmental protections.

4

Once it was clear what had to be stopped, we launched a

sustained full court press and focused our efforts on what

we do best:

ORGANIZE We pulled together our affiliates and al-

lies and created a plan for how to deal with our com-

munity’s top concerns and a communications system

for how to keep each other up-to-date and engaged.

MOBILIZE We educated and activated our 14,000

Public Alert subscribers generating tens of thou-

sands of emails and hundreds of calls throughout

the session.

TRY NEW THINGS We collaborated with the busi-

ness community, a better messenger for our issue

given the Republican leadership and a business

friendly Governor.

Given the make-up of the legislature, we decided to

focus a significant amount of our efforts on the Governor.

As expected, the legislature passed their bills. But, thanks

to our work, Governor Perdue announced her veto of two

devastating environmental bills (S781 and S709). While

we are thrilled about these two vetoes, we are extremely

disappointed that she did not also veto S110 (which allows

construction of terminal groins on our coast). Governor

Perdue also heeded our earlier call to veto the destructive

budget but unfortunately that veto was over-ridden by

the legislature and is now law.

These vetoes were a huge mark of all the work our com-

munity did. Unfortunately, the legislature overrode

the Governor’s veto of S781 and it is now law. However,

Republican leadership was continuously one to two votes

short of overriding S709—and so it remains in limbo.

5

Given the make-up of the legislature, we decided to

focus a significant amount of our legislative efforts on the

Governor. In so doing, the NC conservation community

collectively generated over 8,000 emails and nearly 150

phone calls to the Governor urging her to veto the afore-

mentioned bad bills that landed on her desk. NC Conser-

vation Network alone accounted for over 4,000 of those

emails and nearly 100 of the phone calls. We also

submitted detailed fact sheets on each bill (usually

created by our policy staff, with significant help from

others); submitted two letters signed by over 40 business

leaders and a veto letter from the NC conservation

community to the Governor with over 30 conservation

groups listed; organized dozens of Governor Perdue’s

donors to call to urge vetoes; and much more. Our calls

and emails also generated some attention, including the

News & Observer’s article, Advocates Set Sights on

Perdue, printed on June 23, 2011.

from News & Observer, “Advocates Set Sights on Perdue” Of more than 1,000 phone calls about pending legislation

that have come in between June 8 and Tuesday, accord-

ing to data the Governor’s Office provided Wednesday,

more than a fourth were in opposition to SB709, a bill that

is the intense focus of environmental organizations be-

cause it encourages offshore oil and gas exploration and

inland shale gas exploration.

Of the more than 32,000 email messages about legisla-

tive issues, the most for any single bill were the more than

4,000 that addressed SB781, which cropped up late in

the session and is also opposed by environmentalists.

It would prevent the state from enacting stricter stan-

dards than federal regulations. Environmentalists have

made a big push this week for a veto of those bills and of

SB110, which would allow jetties to be built jutting off the

coast to protect beachfront property. Opponents say jet-

ties could accelerate erosion. Thirty-three environmental

organizations signed a letter to Perdue on Sunday oppos-

ing those three bills. Twenty-nine business leaders signed

a letter last week urging her to veto two of the bills.

How we Blunted the Environmental Rollbacks

2010 2011GROWTH IN GRASSROOTS ACTION

6

Building a movement

After the close of this harsh session, we did some recal-

culating about how to best maintain our state’s current

environmental protections and challenge the devastating

rollbacks that anti-environmental legislators dealt this

year. To this effect, our Legislative Counsel, Dan Conrad,

has been working with the Southern Environmental Law

Center to determine what legal actions can be taken to

reverse, delay, or respond to some of the most damaging

environmental legislation from the past session.

In addition, our organizing team got to work building a

stronger movement for next year. The focus of their work

is best summed up in three parts:

EDUCATING OUR GRASSROOTS BASE Our Public

Alert Organizer, Brittany Iery, educated the Public

Alert network on the big fights we expected to wage

in 2012. She reached out to activists who were inter-

ested in writing letters-to-the-editor to their local

newspapers in hopes of educating swing legislators.

BUILDING THE CAPACITY OF OUR COMMUNITY In

the summer of 2011, we hired Stephanie Schweickert

as our new Affiliate Organizer. In her first few months,

she worked hard to bring our affiliates training

and networking opportunities that will help build

their organization’s membership base and overall

strength.

DEVELOPING CAMPAIGNS Our organizing and poli-

cy staff continue to coordinate and facilitate the work

of our affiliates and allies to build stronger, larger, and

more strategic campaigns on our community’s top

issues (including hydrofracking).

We know that the environment is not a one session issue.

And, NC Conservation Network keeps the long-term in

mind as we constantly re-evaluate our work and try new

things. Some of the most important work we do—prepar-

ing legal cases, educating our base, building our commu-

nity’s capacity, and developing strategic and strong

campaigns—is done during the off-session. We know that

the better prepared we are, the stronger our fight come

the inevitably challenging 2012 legislative session.

Dan Conrad Brittany Iery

Stephanie Schweickert

not a moment

7

8

Count it! Durham Transit Referendum SuccessOn a positive note, NC Conservation Network helped

pass the Durham public transit referendum with

60% support in the November 2011 election. This referen-

dum will allow a local sales tax to move forward and

support investments and improvements in public

transportation, including the Durham part of a Triangle

transportation plan.

We collaborated with a coalition of allies and local groups

supporting the referendum, which included a strategic

plan for our own involvement. Our plan, called the

“Durham Votes” project, sought to educate likely voters

about the importance of voting for the referendum and

aimed to turn out those voters who were most likely to

support public transportation. We did this through a vari-

ety of tactics strategically targeted at over 6,000 indi-

viduals—including, robo-survey calls (asking the voter to

Press 1 if they supported the transit referendum, 2 if

opposed, 3 if not sure, and 4 if already voted), postcard

mailers, and phone banks.

This work resulted in a sizable increase in voter turnout

among our universe. The largest increase came thanks

to the nearly 2,000 live phone conversations generated

through our phone bank. This group voted at an

astonishing rate of 78.8%, confirming studies that have

found personal conversations are highly effective at

mobilizing voters.

Our work on the Durham Votes project was successful

and will inform and strengthen our tactics and strategies

in elections and advocacy work in the future—including

passing similar referendums in Orange and Wake Coun-

ties in 2012. If all three counties pass a referendum, then

the Triangle will be awarded with an expanded regional

transit system.

Durham TransitReferendum Success

78.8%of our 1,955 live phone calls resulted in individuals turning out to vote

50 people=

62.4%of people we contacted voted

9

2012 & BeyondThe 2011 legislative session included numerous envi-

ronmental rollback proposals and we anticipate more

attempts in 2012. There are plans to further cut conserva-

tion funding, explore whether to allow the destructive

practice of hydrofracking, and give utility companies

permission to bill taxpayers to build risky, costly, and

unnecessary new nuclear power plants.

Our goal in 2012 will be to continue our work to defend

public health and environmental protections while

educating voters about attacks on these important issues.

We will work on five major campaigns that will ratchet up

as the year goes:

HOLDING THE LINE We will play smart defense in

hopes of stopping any harmful environmental or

public health legislation brought forward, expected

or not.

BUDGET We will continue to work to protect

environmental and conservation funding in the state

budget.

FRACKING We will continue our campaign to stop

legislators from fast tracking or legalizing this

controversial method of drilling for natural gas.

WAKE AND ORANGE TRANSIT REFERENDUMS We

will continue get out the vote efforts in Wake and

Orange Counties to advocate for transit referenda

that mirror the referendum passed in Durham

County this year.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT We will run a phone bank in

the fall of 2012 that will produce live calls to 130,000

traditionally under-represented NC voters in the

November election.

Dates to remember:2012 Election

one-stop voting

election day

10

In the end, we hope to make environmental and public

health protections a more critical issue for elected offi-

cials over the long term, making it harder to repeal good

laws and easier to promote positive steps for public

health and the environment.

In addition to coordinating the work of the environmen-

tal community on these issues, we will continue to build

the environmental movement in North Carolina. NC

Conservation Network is committed to growing the

grassroots base which is our Public Alert network of

14,000 residents throughout the state. We also plan to

expand the list of North Carolina-based businesses who

believe that clean air and clean water are important for

recruiting and maintaining jobs and businesses.

11

2011 Financials

Revenues

Expenses

Contrib

utio

ns 4

0%

Contracts 12

%

Auction 6%

Program 80%

Management

& General 13%

Fundraising

7%

Affiliate Dues 9%

Interest & M

isc. 2%

Gra

nts 31

%

12

Albemarle Environmental Association

American Rivers

Appalachian Voices

Audubon North Carolina

Bald Head Island Conservancy

Black Family Land Trust

Blue Ridge Conservancy

Canary Coalition

Cape Fear Citizens for a Safe Environment

Cape Fear River Watch

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy

Carteret County Crossroads

Catawba Center for the Environment

Catawba Lands Conservancy

Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities

Citizen Action for Responsible Roads

Citizens for a Safe Environment

Clean Air Carolina

Clean Water for North Carolina

Community United Church of Christ

Conservation Trust for North Carolina

Dan River Basin Association

Davidson Lands Conservancy

Democracy North Carolina

Dogwood Alliance

Eno River Association

Environment North Carolina

Environmental and Conservation Organization

Environmental Defense Fund, NC Office

Environmental Educators of North Carolina

Environmental Resource Program at UNC-Chapel Hill

Farmer Foodshare

Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina

Friends of Forsyth

Friends of State Parks

Friends of the Deep River

Haw River Assembly

Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust

Land Trust for the Little Tennessee

LandTrust for Central North Carolina

League of Women Voters of North Carolina

Lumber River Conservancy

Moravian Task Force on Environmental Stewardship

Mountain Island Lake Association

MountainKeepers

National Committee for the New River

NC Alliance for Transportation Reform

NC Coastal Federation

NC Coastal Land Trust

NC Council of Trout Unlimited

NC Herpetological Society

NC Interfaith Power & Light, a program of the NC Council of Churches

NC League of Conservation Voters

NC Native Plant Society

NC Public Interest Research Group

NC Rail-Trails

NC Sierra Club

NC Waste Awareness Reduction Network

Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation

New River Foundation

Northeast New Hanover Conservancy (Figure Eight Island)

Pacolet Area Conservancy

Pamlico-Tar River Foundation

PenderWatch & Conservancy

Pew Charitable Trusts

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Western NC Chapter

Piedmont Environmental Alliance

Piedmont Land Conservancy

Roanoke River Partners

Rocky River Heritage Foundation

Sandhills Area Land Trust

Scotland County Of Tomorrow

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy

Southern Environmental Law Center

SouthWings

Sustainable Sandhills

Tar River Land Conservancy

The Conservation Fund’s Resourceful Communities Program

The Nature Conservancy

Toxic Free North Carolina

Triangle Greenways Council

Triangle Land Conservancy

Umstead Coalition

Union of Concerned Scientists

WakeUP Wake County

Waterkeeper Alliance

Western North Carolina Alliance

White Oak-New Riverkeeper Alliance

Winyah Rivers Foundation

Yadkin Riverkeeper

2011 Organizational Affiliates

13

FOUNDATION SUPPORTERS

Anna Louise Reynolds Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation

Beattie Foundation

Blumenthal Foundation

Burt’s Bees Greater Good Foundation

The Educational Foundation of America

Golden Corral Charitable Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation

InSight Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation

Julian Price Family Foundation

Park Foundation

The Prentice Foundation

Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

2011 Supporters

INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS

Kathy Adams and Bobby Doolittle

Marcia Angle and Mark Trustin

Anthony and Kathleen Azzi

Linda Bach

Donna Baird

Taylor Barnhill

Karen and Joe Bearden

David Biesack

Russell Bishop

Kay Bond

Cecil Bothwell

Brian and Katie Bouterse

Jessica and Sterling Bowen

Patricia Bowery

Gay Bowman

Teresa Sue Bratton

Vero Brentjens

Peter Bruns and Kat Rice

Kemp and Jenn Burdette

Kathryn Byer

Michael Callis

Mark Campbell

Philip and Linda Carl

Yola Carlough

Austin Chandler

Donna Chavis

Damon Circosta

Steve Cohen

Helen and Robert Conrad

Brook Corwin

James Crowgey

Elsa Desrochers

Cindy and Vincent DiMattia

Ilana Dubester and Gary Phillips

Christopher Alexander Ess

Robyn and Ryan Fehrman

Karl B. and Debbie Leiner Fields

Mary Fishman

Rick Gaskins

Ellen Gerber

Brian Glover

Betsey Granda

Eloise Grathwohl

Jeri Gray

Kathleen Gray and Peter Higgins

Art and Carolyn Green

Wayne and Lynn Hale

Elizabeth Harris

Mary Ann Harrison

Pricey Harrison

Leigh Hart

Jared Hayworth

Carole Hoffman

Kathleen Hoffmann

John Hollingsworth

Elizabeth Holsten

Anne Hummel

Marc Hunt and Catt Potts

Gillian and David Iery

Michaela Iery

Julia Janaro

Randy Johnson

Jackie Jones

Steven Kallan and Sue Lomenzo

Kathy Kaufman

Jane Kendall and Ran Coble

Martin Lawrence

Michelle Lee

Terry Lincoln

Helen Livingston

Patrick Long

Betsy and HR Malpass

Brian Marschhauser

Patrick and Renè Martin

Julie Mayfield and Jim Grode

Easter Maynard and John Parker

Amye and Marshall McCallie

Craig Melby

Sally Migliore

Don Moffitt and Sidney Cruze

Bonnie Monteleone

Ken Moore and Kathy Buck

Stephanie Jo Morgan

Mary T. and David B. Neal

Katie Oates and Dan Murrey

Richard Partridge

Alice Patterson

Sam Pearsall

Jesse Pritchett

Scot Quaranda

Peter Raabe

Matt Raker

Gretchen Redden

14

Bob and Linda Rodriguez

Sandra Rodríguez

Betty Sanders-Seavey

Marvin and Linda Scherl

Carl and Leigh Seager

Tom and Kathy Shea

Michael Simmons

Jane and Gary Smith

Judith Smith

Lenwood Smith II

Marie Spengler

Jack and Jenny Spruill

Fred and Alice Stanback

Frank Stroupe

Jane Stutts

Brenda Summers

Brad and Suzanne Tesh

Ben Thomas

Gudrun Thompson

Karen and Karl B. Thor

Diana Travis and MaryAnn Mueller

Loretta Valenski

Darlene and Don Wells

Carola Westermann and Lee Chambliss

Dale Weston

Elaine Whitford

Catherine Wineburg

Nathalie Worthington

Stefan Zauscher

Alice Zawadzki

EarthShare North Carolina donors

…and our many other generous donors

ORGANIZATIONAL &

BUSINESS SUPPORTERS

1Sky

Audubon North Carolina

Blueprint NC

Burt’s Bees

Camellia Cottage Bed and Breakfast

Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

Chaco

Corning

Counter Culture Coffee

Deep South

E/The Environmental Magazine

Ecover

Emily Alane Photography

Great Outdoor Provision Co.

Green Planet Catering

Larry’s Beans

Lefler Design Studio

Live Green, Inc

Morehead Capital

Moses Cone Sports Medicine Center

Natural Investments/Money with a Mission

Naturally Kerr

Navitat

NC GreenPower

New River Foundation

Piedmont Land Conservancy

Proximity Hotel

RainWater Solutions

Seventh Generation

SoCo Farm & Food

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Southern Environmental Law Center

State Environmental Leadership Program

Sustainable Pest Systems

The Umstead Hotel & Spa

Triad Stage

Triangle Green Cleaning

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh

Western NC Alliance

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