• To lead in developing and implementing a comprehensive statewide conservation plan that involves the public, governmental agencies, private organizations, and landowners.
  
• To maintain functional ecosystems, biological diversity and working landscapes through the stewardship of land and water resources.
  
• To implement a plan that will conserve and restore the State's natural heritage and sustain a healthy life for all North Carolinians and visitors.
  

To protect the state's land and water effectively, One North Carolina Naturally will be guided by the following principles:

1. We must be proactive to protect healthy ecosystems now before they are threatened and we must restore less healthy systems before they decline further.

2. We must be coordinated in joining partners to integrate our strategies.

3. We must be efficient in recognizing existing achievements to focus resources.

4. We must be innovative, looking for ways to blend public and private strategies, public conservation and private hopes, incentives and funding.

5. We must be holistic in recognizing that growth patterns, development needs, and financial factors affect essential land and water conservation; and they are critical in advancing the State towards a healthy and sustainable future.