(RALEIGH) -- Land and water conservation groups are hoping North Carolina lawmakers will invest more money in preserving the state's natural resources. Debbie Crane with the Nature Conservancy said it is vital to protect what makes the state great.

"The economy has been in a real downturn, obviously, for the last three or four years and conservation has kind of been at a standstill," said Crane.  "We haven't been able to conserve a whole lot.  Clearly things are picking up and what our message is is that land conservation is a strong piece of what is going to get this economy up and going."

The report from the umbrella group "Land for Tomorrow" calls for protecting 399,000 acres of land and 1,750 miles of waterways across North Carolina. Since 1999, the state has protected nearly 390,000 acres of forests, vistas, parks, farms and stream buffers even as funding from trust funds has been reduced by 85 percent.