2023: Year in Review

rick.savage • December 20, 2023

Happy Holidays, Wetland Supporters!

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:

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.


Donate Now


If you have any questions about the Association, please contact me.  I would love to talk to you about why you should support our organization.


So, use some of your holiday time to explore a wetland near you and think about how you can

help Carolina Wetlands Association.


Thanks for your support,

Rick

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Celebrating Our Carolina Wetlands

Federal Rollbacks Threaten Wetland Protections: What You Need to Know About Senate Bill 5653

By rick.savage • November 3, 2026
The U.S. Congress is poised to weaken federal protection of wetlands. To understand why these changes matter, it helps to know how wetland permitting actually works. How Wetland Permitting Is Supposed to Work Whether the permit goes through the State agency (e.g. NC DEQ or SC DES which reviews water quality impacts) and/or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and EPA (which review the physical, chemical, and biological impacts), every application is supposed to follow a three-step mitigation sequence: avoid, minimize, and compensate. Avoid. The reviewer works with the applicant to determine whether the impact can be avoided altogether. Often, it can. Minimize. If the impact can’t be avoided, the reviewer and applicant look for ways to reduce it. Compensate. If the remaining impact is large enough, the applicant must compensate for the loss using a formula provided by the ACOE. Mitigation normally takes place in the same watershed and provides the same function as the wetland that was lost. This process takes time, but it is essential. It ensures that applicants don’t overlook options that could spare valuable wetlands. What Senate Bill 5653 Would Change Senate Bill 5653 , the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA),aims to speed up federal and state regulatory decisions on housing and other development projects. But the bill would increase environmental degradation and undermine the federal-state partnerships that protect clean water. Here is the core problem: when permitting is rushed, reviewers can’t carry out the avoid, minimize, and compensate process. More wetlands will be damaged, and there will be no way to make up for the lost wetlands and the benefits they provide. A Weak Answer to the Housing Shortage BAAJA does little to address the real causes of the national housing shortage and construction challenges. Instead, it increases pollution and works against the central goal of the Clean Water Act: to restore and maintain the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters, including wetlands. The bill is an assault on the nation’s rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and lakes. It also looks like a deflection from Congress’s inability to pass legislation that meaningfully tackles the lack of available housing. Undercutting State Authority Over Water Quality BAAJA also limits the authority states hold under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, making it harder for them to meet the water quality standards they have set for their own waterbodies. That would set back five decades of progress toward cleaner water, progress to which every sector of society has contributed, and it would affect generations to come. Fewer Wetlands Protected, and Weaker Review for the Rest This is yet another attack on wetland protection, and it affects all of us. Even those wetlands that remain regulated after recent jurisdictional retreats by EPA and the ACOE would not receive the normal permitting review. In practice, that means they aren’t truly protected either. What You Can Do Contact your representative. Ask your senators to oppose Senate Bill 5653 . You can find and contact your U.S. senators here , or look up your U.S. representative here to share your concerns with the House as well. Support Carolina Wetlands Association. We are your organization fighting to protect wetlands. The next time you explore a wetland or pour a clean glass of water, consider making a donation to help us keep up this work.

Celebrating 10-years of Wetland Treasures Program

By chase.bergeson • October 16, 2026
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Federal Rule Would Strip Protections from Many Wetlands and Streams

By kim.matthews • October 7, 2026
On September 9, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) offering additional ways to define “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Why this definition matters The WOTUS definition determines which water bodies the federal government can protect under the Clean Water Act. In November 2025, the agencies proposed revisions to bring the definition in line with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA. After taking public comments, they have now put forward further options. The new proposal narrows federal jurisdiction even more, potentially stripping protections from the vast majority of U.S. wetlands and seasonal streams. What our comment letter says The Carolina Wetlands Association is submitting comments opposing the proposal. Our main concerns: It would undermine the Clean Water Act’s purpose. The law’s goal is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. This proposal would severely undercut that goal. The “days of water” test is a poor measure. The proposal decides jurisdiction by how many days a year water is present. That number correlates poorly with a waterway’s ability to carry pollution downstream to the rivers, lakes, and estuaries that would stay protected. Streams dry for as few as 30 days a year could lose protection, and polluters would have an incentive to discharge into them rather than into protected waters. Drinking water is at risk. About 56% of North Carolina’s stream miles feeding public drinking water systems are intermittent, ephemeral, or headwater streams. In South Carolina the figure is 51%. These systems serve 6.6 million people, who would bear higher health risks and treatment costs. Wetlands do critical work. They filter pollutants and nutrients that cause algal blooms, dead zones, and fish kills. Losing that function would also degrade groundwater, which many people drink untreated. The legal reasoning is flawed. We argue the agencies misread the Supreme Court’s language. “Relatively permanent” describes geographic features such as streams with defined beds and banks. The word “continuously” modifies “flowing” and doesn’t limit what counts as relatively permanent. It would be hard to implement. Many affected streams have no data showing how many days they lack surface water. That makes the rule difficult for agencies to administer and leaves landowners unable to tell whether the Clean Water Act applies to their property. The impacts haven’t been analyzed. The agencies should not finalize a rule before measuring the added pollution flowing from newly unprotected waters into those that supply drinking water, or projecting the resulting damage to downstream uses. What you can do Read the SNPRM Submit your comment by October 9, 2026, under Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW-2025-0322 . Personal stories about the streams, wetlands, and drinking water you depend on are especially effective. Learn more: read the comments we submitted on the November 2025 version of the rule, many of which still apply.