Cape Fear Arch Conservation Collaboration
Partner Projects
Our partners are currently contributing to the community with the following projects:
Audubon North Carolina
Bald Head Island Conservancy
New Barrier Island Study Center
The Bald Head Island Conservancy is poised to be a national leader in barrier island conservation. A new Barrier Island Study Center on Bald Head Island will be the first community-supported, field laboratory to focus on barrier islands. The facility will have laboratories for research and education, a library, and conference room. The Barrier Island Study Center will increase educational opportunities while simultaneously providing the management information needed to protect our islands. The facility will be a scientific lab within the living lab of 12,000 acres of diverse and sometimes rare and endangered barrier island environments of Bald Head Island. The plan is for a 5,500 square-foot “green” building, currently designed at the highest “Platinum” level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
Cape Fear Resource Conservation & Development
Cape Fear River Watch
City of Wilmington
Columbus County Soil & Water Conservation District
Conservation Trust for North Carolina
New Hanover County Board of Commissioners
New Hanover County Planning Department
Low Impact Development Guidance Manual
New Hanover County Planning has been working with the City of Wilmington Planning and the North Carolina Coastal Federation to develop a Low Impact Development (LID) Guidance Manual and Spreadsheet Modeling Tool for local engineers and developers to use. The Guidance Manual is part of an ongoing effort to encourage LID technologies as an alternative for developers to satisfy stormwater requirements. LID is an approach to site development and stormwater management that minimizes development impacts to the land, water and air. The manual and spreadsheet should be available for distribution by the end of 2008.
Bioretention Planting
New Hanover County Planning Department, the North Carolina Coastal Federation and Laney High School Students constructed a bioretention area at Trask Middle School
New Hanover Soil & Water Conservation District
North Carolina Coastal Federation
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust
Masonboro Island
The NC Coastal Land Trust is in the process of protecting the largest privately held parcel left on Masonboro Island. The 23-acre parcel will be transferred to the State of North Carolina and personnel will continue monitoring water quality and nesting shorebirds; and conducting research, education and management.
Town Creek
NCDA & CS Plant Conservation Program
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
North Carolina Division of Coastal Management
North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
North Carolina Division and Parks and Recreation
Environmental Field Days at Lake Waccamaw State Park
Photo by Chris HelmsRanger Toby Hall discusses aquatic life at Lake Waccamaw including our endemic fish and mollusks during the annual Environmental Field Days, co-sponsored with Columbus Co. Soil and Water Conservation.
Whale Fossil discovered at Lake Waccamaw State Park
Photo by Chris HelmsState Paleontologist Vince Schneider, left, and Richard Lawrence of the Underwater Archeology Branch of NC Cultural Resources talk about a portion of the estimated 2-million-year-old whale skull that they helped park staff remove from Lake Waccamaw in May. Portions of the fossil were discovered in 2007 and excavated in 2008. Ear bones and skull fragments indicated that the whale was likely around 20 feet long and a member of the baleen family, which includes today’s humpback and right whale species. Organizations involved in the fossil excavation included NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Lake Waccamaw State Park, NC State Underwater Archaeology Branch, and the NC Museum of Forestry.
North Carolina Natural Heritage Program
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
South Carolina Coastal Conservation League
SC Coastal Conservation League is working to oppose a proposed coal plant. South Carolina’s state utility, Santee Cooper, is proposing to build a 1320 MW coal fired electric generation plant on the banks of the Great Pee Dee River in southern Florence County. This plant is expected to emit 8.7 million tons of the greenhouse gas, CO2, annually, 7.5 thousand tons of toxic soot and 58 pounds of mercury. The impacts of this coal plant to human health and the environment are far reaching – every river in the coastal plain of South Carolina is under a mercury advisory, asthma rates among children and adults is on the rise. Energy efficiency is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce energy demand. A 1% annual decrease in energy demand from efficiency would make the proposed coal plant unnecessary.
Southern Environmental Law Center
The Nature Conservancy
Juniper Creek
The 18,341 acre tract in Brunswick County was part of TNC's larger International Paper purchase. It will be conveyed to the State of North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) at the end of this summer. TNC has been managing this tract and has been working diligently with the WRC in transferring our knowledge of the landscape and the site’s existing infrastructure. Since the Juniper Creek tract is adjacent to TNC’s Green Swamp Preserve, we will be working with the WRC in the future on cross boundary wildlife management activities and prescribed fire.
HCP-Boiling Spring Lakes
The development of the city-wide Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is scheduled for completion by the end of the calendar year in the City of Boiling Spring Lakes. The acceptance and implementation of this plan by the city will allow development within areas of the municipality identified as significant habitat for the Red-cockaded woodpeckers. The HCP process will outline long-term habitat management strategies, identify mitigation requirements and develop a stream-lined process for landowners in BSL. Impact or “take” of this habitat will be allowed through a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This take will then be mitigated through the purchase of red-cockaded woodpeckers habitat or management of existing red-cockaded woodpeckers habitat within the City’s boundary.
In conjunction with the consultant retained by the City, TNC has been extremely involved in the development of this plan. Although the areas affected by the red-cockaded woodpeckers are generally outside of the existing Boiling Spring Lakes’ Preserve, we are working thoroughly to mediate a solution for the city. This has included generating planning data, identifying potential mitigation sites and developing relationships with the permitting agency.
Fire Program
Although drought conditions have hampered prescribed fire efforts in 2008, TNC has been able to complete four prescribed fires, two in the Green Swamp, one in the Myrtle Head Savannah and one in the Old Dock Preserve. When conditions were not suitable for fire in the southeast coastal plain, our seasonal fire crew assisted a myriad of partners in the region in completing their controlled burn objectives. Over 2500 acres were burned in conjunction with NC State Parks, U.S. Forest Service, TNC Virginia, and the Girl Scouts of America.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Cooperative Effort Takes Toll on Exotic Beach Plant
The beach vitex eradication effort on Bald Head Island was developed into the first project of its kind in North Carolina because of the number, diversity and commitment of the partners involved. Already this project has served as an example of successful partnerships to other beach communities and has resulted in restored habitat for the benefit of federal trust resources. Project partners in addition to the Village of Bald Head Island included Bald Head Island Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service, NC Beach Vitex Task Force, NC Cooperative Extension Program, NC Coastal Reserve Program, NC Sea Grant, and USGS Invasive Species Program.
A US Fish and Wildlife Services' Partners for Fish and Wildlife grant was given to the Village of Bald Head in order to offset some of the costs of beach vitex eradication on approximately five acres scattered throughout the island. The Village of Bald Head picked up the remaining costs and actually did the work of removing and treating the beach vitex. The Bald Head Island Conservancy surveyed the sites and continues to monitor them. The many other organizatons involved provided technical support. Volunteers are a major contributor to this effort.
Winyah Rivers Foundation/Waccamaw Riverkeeper
The Waccamaw Riverkeeper Program
is involved in the following major projects and activities:
Volunteers conducting water sampling in the Waccamaw River watershed
- Waccamaw River Volunteer Monitoring Project
- Working with Coastal Carolina University’s Waccamaw Watershed Academy, volunteers of the Waccamaw Riverkeeper participate in twice monthly sampling of water quality in the Waccamaw River watershed.
- Coastal Waccamaw Stormwater Education Consortium
The Waccamaw Riverkeeper is one of 7 education providers representing various academic, non-profit, and state organizations that conduct training and education programs helping local governments meet requirements for stormwater education and public involvement.
Waterkeeper® Carolinas Muddy Water Watch™
A state-wide initiative of North Carolina “keepers” to reduce runoff from construction sites by providing training workshops and materials developed specifically for volunteers to properly identify sedimentation and erosion violations from active construction sites as well as poorly maintained Best Management Practices.