Our Goal: Enhance Coastal Water Quality and Reduce Flooding
Intense rainstorms cause flooding and water quality degradation as the runoff funnels pollutants to our coastal waters. The impacts are magnified by the altered landscape that channels rain instead of absorbing it. Reducing the volume of stormwater runoff is key to minimizing flooding and restoring coastal waters.
Clean coastal water is the foundation of our coastal economy and ecosystems and we depend on it for work and recreation. That’s why water quality will always be a priority for the Coastal Federation.
15,000 acres
of wetlands restored
billions
of gallons of stormwater runoff reduced
Stormwater Reduction Strategies
Nature-based stormwater strategies improve water quality and reduce flooding, resulting in cleaner & more productive coastal waters.
Intense rainstorms cause flooding and water quality degradation as the runoff funnels pollutants to our coastal waters. Impacts are magnified by the altered landscape that channels rain instead of absorbing it.
The Coastal Federation partners with numerous stakeholders to advance the use of nature-based stormwater strategies including strategic land acquisition and conservation easements, wetland restoration, urban stormwater retrofits, and other best management practices to reduce nutrient and bacteria loadings into coastal waterways and reduce flooding.
Showcasing these projects helps advance nature-based strategies as standard practice and provides valuable opportunities for developers, design professionals, contractors, elected and appointed officials, farmers, and landowners to better understand, utilize, and promote nature-based strategies.
Learn more about nature-based strategies for effective stormwater management in the North Carolina Action Plan.
Wetlands Restoration is one of the strategies like urban retrofits, land acquisition and wetland restoration, that are all nature-based stormwater strategies.
Wetlands tie together land and water and are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world.
The United States has lost over half of the wetlands in the lower 48 states, and the losses continue at an estimate of over 60,000 acres per year.
However, North Carolina is at a crucial point: unlike some areas like the Chesapeake Bay or Louisiana, we still have a fair amount of coastal wetlands left and our water quality is still relatively healthy. This is important, because it is FAR less costly to protect something than to restore it.
Wetlands have many important functions that benefit people and wildlife:
Provide habitat for a wide variety of wildlife and plants
Filter, clean and store water
Act as sponges to collect and hold flood waters
Absorb wind and tidal forces during storms, protecting the land behind them
Provide places of beauty for fishing, kayaking and exploring
Control erosion
Watershed Restoration Progress
The Federation has prioritized the restoration of the Stump Sound and Newport River watersheds and is actively finalizing formal plans to serve as the foundation for replicating and restoring their natural hydrology. Make these plans top priority
The Coastal Federation teamed up with Swansboro to develop a watershed restoration plan for the town which lays out a framework for reducing stormwater runoff that flows into Foster, Halls, Hammocks, Historic, and Ward/Hawkins Creeks ultimately reaching the White Oak.
Visit us in Wrightsville Beach for a 1-mile walking tour of our stormwater reduction projects and check out the ways we help to keep your local waterways clean.
The Coastal Federation is working with federal, state, and local leaders, economic developers, private businesses, and coastal residents to create and implement an economic development strategy for the coast that also protects and restores coastal resources. Investment in coastal restoration creates short-term and long-term jobs, boosts fisheries, and ensures a clean environment that benefits the tourism industry. This draft comprehensive strategic blueprint explains how programs and projects that protect coastal resources also strengthen economic growth along the coast.
North Carolina’s estuarine system consists of approximately 23 inlets, 12,000 miles of estuarine shoreline, and more than 3,000 square miles of brackish water estuaries. Some of these areas are rapidly developing and lack coastal management strategies. Those communities are experiencing the issues such as habitat degradation, water quality changes, erosion and land loss, aging infrastructure, and conflicts over access are a few examples. Local governments are considering solutions to protect infrastructure from flooding and coastal change. Developing and implementing solutions require careful examination of the science and the legal and policy obstacles that are in place. The study below adds to the coastal management strategies discussions already taking place at the state and local levels and in the homes and businesses of those living on the coast.
The Water Summit addressed the challenges and solutions for maintaining our water supplies over the next few decades. It identified what prudent management is necessary to prepare an adequate supply of clean water for our communities.
To better document how coastal restoration in North Carolina also affects community and economic development, the North Carolina Coastal Federation contracted with RTI International to assess the link between coastal restoration and economic development, perform an economic impact analysis of related projects, review how other states benefit from coastal restoration, and identify how coastal restoration fits within the state’s larger economic development strategies.
The Mattamuskeet Drainage Association is working with the N.C. Coastal Federation, researchers from N.C. State University and other stakeholders to carry out a watershed restoration plan that was developed with a grant from the N.C. Division of Water Quality. These partners recognize the need to reduce the volume of drainage water that is pumped into shellfish waters. The networks of canals and ditches throughout the drainage association and the nearby gamelands transport naturally occurring bacteria to the Pamlico Sound. This voluntary plan identifies specific projects that reduce the amount of water pumped into coastal waters, and at the same time provides for improved water-management for agriculture, forestry, and wildlife.
This fact sheet details the importance of the Carteret County Community College Living Shoreline as well as the Bogue Sound area in general. It provides information on how the Federation and the community college are working together to protect and create habitat, prevent erosion, and improve water quality.
This Fact Sheet provides information on the NC Coastal Federation's joint efforts with Airlie Gardens, NOAA's Community-based Restoration Program, and Restore America's Estuaries. This project's goal is to link coastal habitat restoration with environmental education efforts in NC's southeastern coastal region.
