A non-partisan, science- based organization advocating for wetlands in the Carolinas.

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Recent News

By rick.savage 02 Mar, 2024
Greetings Wetland Supporters: On February 12, 2024, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order (EO) 305 which is geared toward protecting wetlands that recently lost federal protection under the Clean Water Act. You can read the entire Executive Order here: https://governor.nc.gov/executive-order-no-305/open . What is the basis of the Executive Order? Let me tell you what caused EO 305 and the role the Carolina Wetlands Association played to help increase wetland protection in the state. It began with the Natural and Working Lands (NWL) initiative started by the Governor’s office based on EO 80 to address climate change impacts. The goal of the NWL initiative was to develop a plan to restore and preserve wetlands, forests, and other lands to sequester carbon and in the process provide co-benefits to communities. The Natural and Working Lands Action Plan was the result of the initiative and Carolina Wetlands Association was a significant contributor. How did wetlands lose protection? The Sackett v. EPA case resulted removing protection from millions of acres of wetlands in the Carolinas. North Carolina had a statute to protect these wetlands, but the recently passed 2023 NC Farm Bill eliminated that protection and limited North Carolina’s wetland protection be no more than the Federal protection. These changes resulted losing protection of about 60% of our wetlands as determined by the NC DEQ and probably a similar amount in South Carolina. How will the new Executive Order Protect Wetlands? The Carolina Wetlands Association work with several other concerned organizations (such as the Southern Environmental Law Center, NC Conservation Network, NC Wildlife Federation, and River Keepers) to attempt to find ways to reduce the devastating impact of these decisions. The result was EO 305 which Governor Roy Cooper announced and signed on February 12, 2024. The goals of the Executive Order are to: Permanently preserve 1,000,000 new acres of natural lands with special focus on wetlands Restore or reforest 1,000,000 new acres of North Carolina’s forests and wetlands Plant 1,000,000 trees in urban areas across the state This EO does not change to permit requirements or the jurisdictional wetlands definitions, but it does prioritize wetlands conservation. highly recommend reading the entire Executive Order. Your Carolina Wetlands Association has played a significant role in events leading to developing EO 305 and we will continue to do everything we can to continue this effort to protect our wetlands. Please think about how you can help the Association continue this work as we need to do so more than ever. So, when you explore that wetland, think about whether it continues to be protected! Rick Savage, Executive Director
24 Feb, 2024
Celebrate NC Sci Fest on Saturday, April 6, 2024
By rick.savage 02 Feb, 2024
February 2 is World Wetlands Day
By rick.savage 20 Dec, 2023
Happy Holidays, Wetland Supporters!
By chase.bergeson 11 Dec, 2023
We always try to emphasize to our volunteers that wetlands do not always look wet! Despite the rain, this was clear in our most recent round of monitoring. With the recent end of the growing season at our sites and the abnormally dry weather this Fall, our sites were looking drier than usual. Particularly at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, where water levels in our monitoring wells were at or below our sensor levels, over 5 feet below ground. Both of the pools where we normally take water samples were completely dry. This marks the second monitoring event for which we were not able to take any water quality samples at Hemlock Bluffs. Hopefully, we will get more rain soon!
By Marilyn.mayer 30 Nov, 2023
We work better together to create a walkable watershed in Dunn, NC.
By rick.savage 28 Nov, 2023
Dear Wetland Supporters, This is a very important time of the year for the Carolina Wetlands Association; It is our Annual Giving Campaign. It is a time when we need every one of you to show your support for your organization by giving financially to the Association. We need your donations more than ever. It has been a difficult year for wetlands protection. The US Supreme Court with its Sackett ruling greatly reduced wetland protection; about 60% of our wetlands lost their protection. While SC has some leverage to pass state laws or local ordinances to protect wetlands, NC has none of these options since state law prohibits wetland protection beyond the federal level. This action is really difficult to comprehend given the state is poring tens of millions of dollars to use nature-based solutions (i.e., wetlands) to protect our communities and provide flood control. The Carolina Wetlands Association is doing its best to work with other organizations to find ways to protect wetlands. We have been in a lot of meetings to brainstorm actions that we can take, working the EPA, the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) as well as a dozen other nonprofit organizations. We are also considering application of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act as possible avenues. On the bright side, the Carolina Wetlands Association has received new grants to facilitate wetland restoration projects in Pitt County (NC); to restore wetlands and reduce flooding of the Lumbee tribe's cultural center and downstream communities (Robeson County, NC); and to learn about flooding based on traditional ecological knowledge and reduce flooding of a Gullah-Geechee community (Bucksport, SC). All of these efforts are helping preserve and restore wetlands providing community resilience and many other benefits other than flood control, such as clean water, recreation and education, stormwater protection, and much more. We need your help because we use our general funds to work with other organizations to protect and promote wetlands and support staff in all phases of the organization. Our staff is working hard for you to protect our wetlands. Please give generously! So, go explore a wetland and know that your generosity is helping to protect it.
By chase.bergeson 11 Oct, 2023
Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers for making our Fall 2023 monitoring a success!! We are so grateful to our volunteers who were able to remain flexible when our monitoring was interrupted by Tropical Storm Ophelia and scattered over three weekends. If you weren’t able to make it on our new dates, we hope you will join us for our other upcoming events and for our next round of monitoring , the first weekend of December.
By chase.bergeson 13 Sep, 2023
We're being invaded by these common invasive species at our wetland sites!
Pine Flat
By rick.savage 01 Sep, 2023
On August 29, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army announced a final rule that amends the January 2023 definition of “waters of the United States" (WOTUS). The amendments conform the January 2023 definition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett and will take effect immediately upon publishing in the Federal Register (likely to happen within two weeks) . To read the pre-publication version of the revised final rule, go to Pre-publication Version of the Final Rule - Amendments to the Revised Definition of Waters of the United States (epa.gov) . While exact details are yet to be digested, the gist of the ruling is becoming clear. First, the significant nexus rule has been eliminated; so isolated wetlands are not jurisdictional wetlands, meaning they are not protected under the Clean Water Act. Second, the new rule requires visual evidence of a continuous surface flow between a wetland and navigable water. This part of the rule can get complicated as to what constitutes visual evidence of continuous surface flow. I am sure that this will cause a lot of confusion and some developers will say there is no continuous surface flow and impact the wetland with a permit. Suffice it to say, this puts wetlands in North and South Carolina in jeopardy. The NC Department of Environmental Quality has estimated about 2.5 million acres of wetland have lost protection in North Carolina and I am sure a similar number in South Carolina. The NC legislature could have continued to protect these wetlands; however, the recently passed Farm Bill eliminated state protection of isolated wetlands. We all need to brace ourselves for a lot of wetland loss and they are the very resource we need to protect our communities from flooding. I think it is reasonable to expect more communities to get flooded, to have less clean water, and to have reduced climate resilience as well as miss the many other benefits that our wetlands provide. So go out an explore a wetland (before it gets developed?).
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Our work is organized into the following program areas

Outreach

Promoting widespread understanding of and engagement in wetlands.

Advocacy

Encouraging policies and programs that promote wetland conservation and protection.

Science

Encouraging the advancement of wetland science and practices.

Sustainability

Ensuring a long-term, viable organization to protect, promote, and restore wetlands.


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