We had such a great time with the students from East Carolina University, Ohio State University and Ithaca College who spent their spring breaks with us! A big thanks goes out to these students who spent their spring break working on coastal restoration and education here in North Carolina. [View the story “College students spend…
Details
The North Carolina Coastal Federation hosted a workshop on March 8 that trained local water quality professionals, planners and managers on coastal watershed restoration planning. The workshop, titled “Watershed Planning: Strategies and Tools to Protect and Restore Coastal Water Quality,” was organized in partnership with the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership (APNEP) and the North Carolina…
Details
On March 6, after two years of debates and some necessary compromises, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted several text amendments to the Special Use Permit process for industry. The adopted amendments are a compromise of what the federation proposed in its Model Industrial SUP and the amendments that had been suggested…
Details
Students with the Blue Ribbon Commission for the Prevention of Youth Violence (BRC) pretended to be engineers and raindrops during a stormwater lesson with staff from the North Carolina Coastal Federation last Friday. Staff resumed programs with BRC on March 3 after working with them late last year. BRC provides after-school and summer opportunities for students in the…
Details
Update: Wrightsville Beach Brewery donated more than $1,000 to the federation’s 50 Million Oyster Initiative. Many thanks to the brewery and to all who purchased an Oysterman Stout during the month of March! WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — Wrightsville Beach Brewery will be donating 11 percent of the proceeds from its March “give back” beer to the…
Details
The North Carolina Coastal Federation’s efforts to expand investment in the state’s oyster industry are picking up speed in Raleigh. Recently, Gov. Roy Cooper released his proposed budget for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 bienniums. Cooper’s budget includes all of the federation’s priority oyster investments. Those include $1.35 million to rebuild sanctuary oyster beds in the…
Details
The City of Wilmington received an award from the Lower Cape Fear Stewardship Development Coalition on Feb. 24 for its collaborative efforts to reduce the volume of polluted stormwater runoff entering Masonboro Sound. The city won the award for a constructed wetland in the Raintree neighborhood of Wilmington. The wetland was built over a stormwater…
Details
On Feb. 17, the North Carolina Coastal Federation broke ground on a salt marsh restoration project in Williston Creek, located at the 6,000-acre North River Wetlands Preserve in Otway. The project will restore and create approximately 8.8 acres of salt marsh and 3,500 linear feet of tidal creek. “This new salt marsh at the headwaters…
Details
Nineteen birding enthusiasts ventured to the restored habitats of North River Wetlands Preserve in Otway on the cool and sunny morning of Feb. 26 to get up-close looks at the birds that flock to the peaceful preserve. The North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Birding at the Preserve program gives participants the unique experience of checking out…
Details
The Town of Swansboro Board of Commissioners took proactive steps Tuesday to address stormwater runoff by unanimously voting to adopt a watershed restoration plan developed in partnership with the North Carolina Coastal Federation. This collaborative effort has been in the works since 2016. The federation has met with town representatives, Hammocks Beach State Park, the…
Details
Last week, on an unseasonably warm February morning, staff and volunteers with the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and with the North Carolina Coastal Federation were hard at work bagging and loading oyster shells at the federation’s headquarters office in Ocean. That Friday morning oyster shell bagging event was the fifth group of the…
Details
CARTERET COUNTY — The normally quiet community of South River is about to get busier when construction starts on a new oyster reef in the nearby Neuse River. This spring, the North Carolina Coastal Federation and its partners will break ground on a 15-acre oyster restoration project, part of an ambitious goal to restore 50 million oysters…
Details
UPDATE: This article has been edited to reflect updated crab pot numbers. A fleet of boats crewed by 72 commercial watermen spread out along the North Carolina coast in January and collected 4,304 lost crab pots as part of the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, which is a statewide effort to remove lost crab pots from…
Details
Last week, North Carolina Coastal Federation staff visited Lake Forest Academy in Wilmington to lead some educational activities on the area’s coastal environment with a focus on oysters and their role in estuarine habitats. Nina Quaratella, AmeriCorps member at the Wrightsville Beach office, led the activities for the day. Jessica Gray, coastal outreach associate, and…
Details
Since 1982 the Coastal Federation has grown into an extremely influential organization. Thirty-five years ago, its office was a back bedroom in Todd Miller’s house on Bogue Sound. Todd and in his words “… and my dog Kwawk” were the only employees. Membership cost $5. The headquarters is now a comfortable old building in the…
Details
At this year’s Hatteras Island Oyster Roast, the cold temperatures and steady northeast wind at Oden’s Dock didn’t deter anyone from attending, as approximately 400 people showed up to eat oysters, volunteer and enjoy live music — all while giving back to the coast and Hatteras residents affected by this fall’s hurricanes, particularly by Hurricane…
Details
Investment in coastal restoration is critical to improve and protect the long-term success of North Carolina’s coastal economy. On March 22-23 in Raleigh, the North Carolina Coastal Federation will host a summit titled Sound Economic Development: Creating a Rising Tide for the North Carolina Coast. The summit will convene elected and appointed officials, academia, businesses,…
Details
The 2017 Annual Lower Cape Fear Stewardship Development Awards Luncheon is Feb. 24 this year, honoring regional projects that implemented design and construction techniques that help protect natural resources. The luncheon and awards program at The Terraces on Sir Tyler in Wilmington follow an optional educational tour of the Live Oak Bank campus, winner of…
Details
Swansboro’s local watersheds are experiencing a decline in the quality of local shellfishing and swimming waters, mainly due to stormwater pollution. To reverse this trend, the North Carolina Coastal Federation is working with the town, stakeholders and partners to develop a watershed restoration plan that sets a framework for restoring water quality in Foster, Halls,…
Details
Some of the most important decisions a new governor and legislative leaders make concern who they select to run state agencies and legislative committees. That is especially true when it comes to the governor and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR). Both play critical roles in protecting and…
Details
Stakeholders reached a compromise to improve the New Hanover County Special Use Permit process for industry On Feb. 2, the New Hanover County Planning Board voted 6-1 to adopt the New Hanover County Department of Planning and Zoning staff recommendations to the industrial use sections of the New Hanover County Special Use Permit zoning ordinance text…
Details
The Leadership Carteret class of 2017 stopped by the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s central office on Feb. 1 for a presentation and barbecue with staff. Leadership Carteret is an annual program that brings together some of Carteret County’s top decision-makers and business leaders. During the 10-week program, members attend Wednesday presentations at organizations throughout the…
Details
Beach toys — overall, they seem pretty harmless. But when left behind, these plastic toys can harm or even kill marine life. This summer, the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wrightsville Beach office partnered with the Plastic Ocean Project, Inc. and the Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project to collect discarded beach toys. Visitors to the office…
Details
We had such a great time at our coastal cleanups on the North Carolina coast! Many thanks to the volunteers who helped us remove thousands of pounds of debris and trash from three sites along the coast. Check out this Storify to see photos, videos and articles about all of our cleanups last week, as well…
Details
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Thursday that he was appointing Rep. Susi Hamilton of Wilmington as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. He also appointed Reid Wilson, executive director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina (CTNC), as chief deputy secretary. Todd Miller, executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, released a…
Details