This Land, Your Land

The News & Observer points out Saturday that the bad economy is hurting conservation groups that buy land for parks and other preservation efforts. More than two dozen deals have been halted midstream, the paper says.

In addition to private money, groups in North Carolina have benefited from four trust funds that support land conservation, but the state has taken money from them for other expenses as North Carolina's budget deficit has grown.

"Conservationists predict it will be two years or more before state-supported land preservation fully rebounds," the paper says.