2023: Year in Review

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday break. These times with family and friends are to

be enjoyed and cherished.

Loss of Wetland Protection

This year really has been a good year for the Carolina Wetlands Association in spite of the bad news about the loss of wetland protection. By now everyone knows about the Supreme Court Case and the passage of the NC Farm Bill which resulted in more than 60% of our wetlands losing their protection. Carolina Wetlands Association has worked with other nonprofit organizations to promote wetland protection through Executive Orders, local incentives, and conservation.  We are also supporting the work of several organizations who are working with NC Legislators in an attempt to undo parts of the Farm Bill.

Science Committee

Closer to home, our Science Committee (led by Ginny Baker Daniel) published the State of the Wetlands report and fact sheet.  This report summarizes the historical changes in wetlands of the North and South Carolina and their current condition, stressors, and threats. This report and factsheet can be used to provide a better understanding of the benefits of wetland protection.

Program Committee

Our Program committee was active this year in wetland education at public outreach events such as NC Sci Fest, Walnut Creek Wetland Center's Mud Days, and the Town of Cary's Harvest Fest. In May, three new Wetland Treasures of the Carolinas were celebrated with tours:

• Waccamaw Wildlife Refuge (Horry and Marion Counties, SC)
• Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve (Wake County, NC), and
• Goose Creek State Park (Beaufort County, NC).

The tours to these wetlands were well attended and very educational and fun for the attendees.

Volunteer Wetland Monitoring Program

Our Volunteer Wetlands Monitoring Program (funded by EPA Region 4 and conducted in partnership with NC State University and RTI International) completed a second year of monitoring at three locations. The program has been successful training citizens to be scientists while collecting baseline data.  We are hoping to expand program to additional sites across the Carolinas. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator if you are interested in volunteering for this program.

Projects Supporting Healthy Communities

The Carolina Wetlands Association was awarded four new grants - two grants from the NC Land and Water Fund and two grants from Duke Energy Accelerator Grant Program.  We will be working with the Lumbee Tribe on a wetland restoration project in Red Banks, NC and with Pitt County (NC) on a stream and floodplain restoration project on Parkers Creek. Both projects have the goal of reducing flood impacts to vulnerable communities. The project with the Lumbee Tribe integrates the wetland restoration with plans for a new Cultural Center. 

In Bucksport, SC, we received a small grant from the Association for the Betterment of Bucksport (in partnership with the the Defenders of Wildlife) to help the Gullah-Geechee Community understand their flooding problems using traditional ecological knowledge. We are hoping to receive additional funds in the near future to support this community.

We have some smaller projects in Wake County (NC) where we have provided our wetland expertise to wetland planning projects. For example, members of the Science Committee assessed how church leaders could in corporate wetland preservation and education in their site development plans to benefit the community of Juniper Level.

End of the Year Giving Campaign

While the organization has been successful in winning grants for our projects to help vulnerable communities use wetlands for flood control, we are still in need of funding that provides basic support for organization that is not covered by grants. So, if you have not contributed to our organization, please consider doing so, every gift, no matter how small, will help us continue the work to Carolina Wetland Association to protect wetlands and build community resilience.