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Historical Highlights
- Two shoreline restoration projects were completed through the ShoreKeeper Program.
- More than 100 waterfront landowners benefited directly from private consultations with staff to learn how they might implement more environmentally friendly alternatives to bulkheading and restore or create additional fisheries habitat.
- NCCF's volunteer advisory board completed the management plan and a primitive nature trail for the Hoop Pole Creek property in Atlantic Beach.
- NCCF was awarded $187,000 by the EPA and NC Wetlands Restoration Program to demonstrate ways to develop coastal land to safeguard and restore natural estuarine habitat. The grant will demonstrate these practices on an expansion site for the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort.
- Working with the NC Division of Marine Fisheries and the NC Wetlands Restoration Program, the NCCF education program initiated two major restoration projects involving six different groups of students and teachers. They placed 5,300 pounds of oyster shell (cultch) in Hoop Pole Creek to restore an historic oyster bed and installed over 2,000 wetland plants in the marsh to restore a heavily damaged section of the wetland.
- Demolition of the Quaker Neck Dam in Goldsboro was completed, restoring miles of streams for fish migration. It was the first voluntary dam removal in the country for environmental purposes and opened up nearly a hundred miles of Neuse River habitat for spawning fish.
- NCCF was presented with Coastal America's 1998 Partnership Award for its role in the dam's removal.
- NCCF created, printed and distributed 120,000 copies of the annual State of the Coast Report that focused on the results of a UNC-W study revealing the presence of contaminants in our state's estuaries.
- CLEAN-NC (Children Linking With the Environment Across the Nation) involved 1,332 students and 178 teachers in canoe field trips and workshops in coastal estuaries, wetlands, tributaries and forests through environmental education programs.
- Coastal Adventures – on-the-water and in-the-forest educational experiences – served 2,057 individuals during the year.
- NCCF organized the second national Is Golfing Greener? Conference focusing on how the golfing industry and the environment might be more compatible.
- NCCF conducted an Environmental Summit – a daylong event featuring coastal experts from across the country.
- Facing the Facts About Hogs, a science-based publication that detailed threats to the environment as a result of growth in the hog industry, was created, printed, and distributed to 80,000 registered voters in five eastern NC counties.
- The State was assisted in its defense of its ban on sea walls when NCCF became a third part to a lawsuit between the Shell Island Resort Homeowners Association and the NC Coastal Resources Commission. A superior court judge dismissed the suit, but his decision was appealed.
- Staff testified before Congress and helped to implement the move of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, avoiding the construction of hardened structures along the beach.
- With NCCF encouragement, eight, previously vacant seats on the Coastal Resources Commission were filled by Gov. Hunt, creating a more balanced and qualified commission.
- Citizens were rallied to oppose Chevron USA when it announced its intention to sink a test well 30 miles off Cape Hatteras.
- Citizens and organizations were united to question Nucor's plans for a steel mill along the Chowan River in Hertford County and to insist that an environmental impact statement be prepared for the project. NCCF also organized a public forum that was attended by more than 400 people.
- With assistance from NCCF, the Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) proceeded forward with the creation of new rules to protect our shoreline along coastal rivers and sounds. Specifically,
the commission looked at expanding regulatory jurisdiction adjacent to public surface waters, maintaining vegetated shoreline buffers, promoting more environmentally compatible means of shoreline erosion control, and reducing paved surfaces near the water. - NCCF successfully encouraged the CRC to place a moratorium on land use planning, which had become an ineffective tool for planning. The CRC initiated reform of the land use planning process.
- The first annual Hoop Pole clean up was conducted and involved more than 100 community volunteers and local businesses in the project.
- NCCF succeeded in helping to obtain a moratorium on new hog farms and expansion of existing farms in NC. The moratorium was intended to allow time for development of new technology for hog waste treatment.
- Co-chaired by Kay Bryan Edwards and L. Richardson Preyer, NCCF's Building Fund Campaign was completed. The campaign surpassed its $500,000 goal to provide funds to purchase NCCF's headquarters building, expand the environmental education program and establish an endowment to provide for the care and maintenance of the building.
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12-03-08: Trucks Using Ports May Reduce Emissions
