This year marks the project’s third and final phase for the project to revive and restore the New River, which had become nearly choked to death by wastewater pollution.
Habitat Restoration
Refuge’s 15-year water plan a conservation balancing act
Maintaining the natural dynamic between fire and water in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is key in the latest plan to restore, protect and conserve this unusual landscape.
Edenton culvert upgrade to open up habitat for river herring
Funds from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will go to replace a culvert over an Edenton creek that will allow river herring to reach important spawning ground.
Volunteers help remove Venus flytraps from harm’s way
The perennial, carnivorous plants have migrated to ditches alongside the roadsides in Boiling Spring Lakes, but imminent development has made their relocation a race against time.
NOAA to fund oyster sanctuary, marine sciences program
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration is awarding $14.9 million to the North Carolina Coastal Federation for oyster habitat restoration and a program to encourage underrepresented university students to study marine sciences.
Albemarle-Pamlico resilience gets $27.25 million boost
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced funding for the agency’s National Wildlife Refuge System for Albemarle-Pamlico restoration initiatives.
As development looms, effort on to protect Corolla horses
An initiative announced in November aims to acquire and preserve habitat for the wild Banker horses of the Currituck Outer Banks one-third acre at a time.
Coastal restoration firms show off living shoreline tech
Companies in shoreline stabilization and restoration recently presented their techniques and materials for a statewide steering committee of scientists, federal and state agencies, and nonprofits.
Officials celebrate funding of Sugarloaf Island restoration
The legislature appropriated $2 million to restore Morehead City’s Sugarloaf Island, a barrier protecting waterfront attractions from coastal storms that has been rapidly eroding for decades.
Water clarity standard to save seagrass an ongoing process
Water quality degradation from nutrients and sediments reduce light penetration needed for seagrass survival and is a threat to coastal fisheries.
New partnership aims to restore water quality, vegetation
Essential coastal habitat is declining because of deteriorating water quality. Now a private-public partnership is coming together to protect the resource.
Dock debris following Ian ‘worst we’ve seen,’ crews say
Environmental stewards contend that the debris contracted commercial fishers are removing makes the case that North Carolina needs to reinstate building codes for residential docks and piers.
Partnership updates maps for monitoring seagrass losses
Previous mapping efforts have shown declines in submerged aquatic vegetation.
Pamlico Sound oyster sanctuary network continues to grow
With the current project to build an oyster sanctuary near Cedar Island, the Division of Marine Fisheries is getting closer to its goal of 500 acres of protected oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound by 2026.
Duck chosen for living shoreline, NC 12 resiliency project
The Outer Banks town was selected for federal funding for its proposed living shoreline and highway resiliency project.
New plan aims to save northeastern NC marshlands
The recently released Currituck Sound Coalition Marsh Conservation Plan was designed to address the challenges marshes in the sound face, including sea level rise.
