Purpose: Loss of natural and working lands represents a major threat to the continued abundance of North Carolina’s natural resources, the vibrancy of its working land economies, the climate resilience of its underserved communities, and military readiness. Agriculture and defense rank 1st and 2nd, respectively, as the state’s economic drivers. The ecosystem service values within the natural and working lands are incalculable. North Carolina ranks 2nd in the nation (behind Texas) for projected working land acreage lost to development. This multi-pronged project will support bottom-up, community-led approaches to developing resilience plans and implementing prioritized strategies in 3 key geographies across eastern NC (Sandhills, inner and outer Coastal Plans) that were selected in proximity to military operational footprints to advance a suite of resilience co-benefits in the landscape. The project team will facilitate dialogues between a diverse and inclusive group with the aim of reducing barriers to implementation for emerging, science-supported, nature-based, flood mitigation practices.
Support: The project is funded by a $1.49 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation via the National Coastal Resilience Fund.
Current Work: Project partners will 1) build critically needed capacity to support underserved and Tribal landowner enrollment in conservation programs; 2) facilitate robust, climate resilience planning leveraging local and indigenous knowledge augmented by bespoke watershed modeling; and 3) coordinate dialogues aimed at reducing barriers to implementation for emerging, nature-based flood mitigation practices.
Project lead is the NC Foundation for Soil & Water Conservation. The main project partners include Working Lands Trust and Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Additional supporting partners include NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services’ Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, local Soil & Water Conservation Districts, NC Forest Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and NC Wildlife Resources Commission. Community partners include Fort Liberty Army Base, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
Accomplishments: Project is currently underway. Updates to come soon.
Media: Coming soon