Grandfather Mountain, known for its beautiful hiking trails, its annual Highland Games and its well known mile-high bridge, will become North Carolina’s newest state park.
A bill allowing the mountain to become part of the state parks system got final approval today by the North Carolina General Assembly.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the people of North Carolina to add to the state parks system a piece of property that is a treasure both for North Carolina and for the nation,” said state Rep. Cullie Tarleton, D-Watauga.
The state is purchasing 2,456 acres of land, consisting mostly of the higher elevations and backcountry areas of Grandfather in Avery, Caldwell and Watauga counties.
The state is paying $12 million, but no budget appropriations were necessary, because the money is coming from two trust funds: the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and the Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
The agreement also contains a conservation easement on 749 acres of land that includes the mountain’s main tourist attractions, such as the nature museum and the mile-high swinging bridge. That part of the property will remain owned by the family of the late Hugh Morton.
Grandfather Mountain will be North Carolina’s 34th state park.
It was announced last year by former Gov. Mike Easley and it was approved by the Council of State, a panel of top executive-branch officials.
The final step was approval by the General Assembly. The N.C. House passed the bill unanimously today, two and a half weeks after the N.C. Senate approved it.
The bill will now go to Gov. Bev Perdue, who is expected to sign it.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said protecting education and creating jobs in North Carolina are her top priorities in the proposed state budget she’ll release.

Perdue told the state’s top education leaders Monday that she would propose spending more money in K-12 education and new initiatives designed to prepare students for the working world in the budget.

But Perdue said significant cuts were ahead for the university system in the proposed budget, due to be released Tuesday.

University of North Carolina system President Erskine Bowles said after the meeting at Wake Technical Community College he’s worried that campuses would have to cut as many as a 1,000 positions under the governor’s proposed two-year budget.

North Carolina is among the best states at posting public records on the Internet, but some information is often hard to find, infrequently updated or not entirely available, according to an analysis by The Associated Press released Sunday.

The survey examined how all 50 states provide online access to 20 different kinds of records, ranging from consumer complaints to teacher certifications. The report ties North Carolina for third with Kentucky in its accessibility to public records. Only Texas and New Jersey ranked higher in the Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Government Information, which was compiled by newspaper and broadcast journalists over a two-month period.

The report found that North Carolina provides information on 17 out of 20 categories surveyed such as death certificates, bridge inspection reports and disciplinary actions against medical physicians and attorneys. A visitor to the state’s government Web site (www.nc.gov) can easily find links to state agencies on health, public education and transportation, but other links listed under “Online Services” and “State Agencies” can be confusing for a first-time user, the survey found.

There also are inconsistencies in the type and depth of public records department Web sites provide.

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