Thinking about what you want to do with your state tax refund this year?
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is welcoming anyone filing a 2024 state tax return to donate some or all of their refund to the North Carolina Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.
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This fund supports research and conservation management projects for the state’s most vulnerable wildlife populations.
“Funds donated using the tax-checkoff program amplify those provided by a federal grant for species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) in North Carolina,” Sara Schweitzer, assistant chief of the agency’s Wildlife Management Division, said in a release. “A $100 donation is matched by $186 in grants—truly boosting SGCN conservation in North Carolina. Our biologists and agency partners are working around the clock to enhance habitat and populations, especially those greatly affected by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. The Eastern hellbender, bog turtle, gray bat, Carolina Northern flying squirrel, several high-elevation migratory birds, to name a few, have been greatly affected by the hurricane’s impacts. The matched funding from the tax check-off program will help conservation efforts immensely.”
Projects supported by the fund include the development of diamondback terrapin surveys in coastal estuaries, habitat restoration for the bog turtle, Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander surveys, translocations of hellbenders to avoid direct impacts from in-stream dam removal projects, and use of audio-recording devices to detect vocalizing frogs in remote areas of the state’s Sandhills region.
Other projects supported by the tax check-off program are available online.
To participate, check Line 30 on your state income tax form. If filing through an online tax preparation software, enter the amount you wish to contribute when prompted to “N.C. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.”
Supporter Spotlight
Direct donations may be made online.
In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and in recognition of the continued struggle for civil rights, Coastal Review will not publish on Monday, Jan. 20.
