Greetings <<First Name>>: 2025 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Carolina Wetlands Association—and what a journey it has been! What started with a board, a website, and a dream has grown into a powerful voice for wetlands across the Carolinas. From launching volunteer monitoring programs to leading flood resilience work in vulnerable communities — we’ve come a long way. All this progress has been possible because of you—our community of supporters, partners, and volunteers. But as we look to the next 10 years, we face new challenges. Wetlands in the Carolinas have never been more threatened. Protections are weaker, while pressures from development and climate change are growing. Thank you for standing with us. Here’s to the next decade of protecting the places we love. So take some time this summer to visit your favorite wetland—breathe in that earthy smell, listen to the frogs and birds, and remember why this matters. If you’d like to support our mission—or just have questions—please don’t hesitate to reach contact me. Rick Savage, Executive Director Email me
Read Rick's full message about our journey and how you can support our future.
Lumbee Cultural Center Wetland Restoration Project
The feedback we received is already helping us shape a vision that reflects the Lumbee community’s priorities and cultural connections to the land. But we’re not done listening. If you’re a community member familiar with the area, we want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and dreams for the project by taking our quick survey.
Volunteer Wetland Monitoring Program
This summer, we completed the first full monitoring cycle at four new wetland sites across North and South Carolina — bringing our total to seven active monitoring locations. These new sites reflect the rich diversity of wetland ecosystems in our region:
- A rare mountain bog at Kanuga in Hendersonville, NC
- An urban wetland at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, SC
- Expansive Carolina Bays at Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve in North Myrtle Beach, SC
- A large vernal pool at Horseshoe Farm Preserve in Raleigh, adding to our Piedmont network
Speaking of our Piedmont sites, recent storms brought significant flooding to Mason Farm Biological Reserve, and we have not yet been able to access the site to assess conditions. We’ll share updates as soon as we can. Hemlock Bluffs and Robertson Millpond weathered the storms well and had an excellent turnout of volunteers for summer monitoring—thank you for your continued dedication and resilience!
NCDEQ Release Online Wetland Plant Guide
[Read more at coastalreview.org]
A new state-led project aims to keep roads dry and hospital access open during storms in a flood-prone part of Goldsboro. State officials broke ground Friday (March 16) on a natural infrastructure pilot project behind Wayne Community College, where frequent flooding has been known to cut off access to nearby Wayne Memorial Hospital. The site will be transformed into a stormwater wetland and detention basin, designed to collect and slowly release rainwater before it overwhelms roads and downstream communities. The $1.2 million project is the first to launch under North Carolina’s Natural Infrastructure Flood Mitigation Program (NIFMP), created in 2020 to address chronic flooding using nature-based strategies like wetland restoration and stream repair.
[Read more at wral.com]
[Read more at thestate.com]
[Read more at counton2.com]
