A portion of a $421 million grant will be used to expand state parks and preserve more of the Green Swamp Preserve.
Gov. Roy Cooper and state Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan Tuesday at the Green Swamp Preserve near the Brunswick County line. They were officially announcing a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant that will be used to expand natural areas in the Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland, including benefits for the Green Swamp..
The cooperatve effort, known as the Atlantic Conservation Coalition (ACC) was selected for the fourth largest single award in the competition.
The $421 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) grant will be used for conservation and environmental restoration efforts in the Southeast.
The grant is one of the four largest single awards in the CPRG program, and will be managed by the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR). It is the largest award in EPA history for “natural climate solutions,” Cooper said in a press release..
Each of the four states will receive $50 million for “shovel-ready” projects. The 21 projects identified by the coalition will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 28 million metric tons of CO2e by 2050, according to the DNCR. The projects include salt marsh restoration, conserving land for outdoor recreation, building living shorelines, cost-assistance to small forest landowners, urban tree planting, farmland preservation and reforestation, among other activities.
Preventing overdevelopment of forests, wetlands and tidal marches can lessen damage from storms and flooding, as well as reducing greenhouse gases, Regan said.
“…North Carolinians will benefit from unprecedented resources to fund the solutions that work best in their communities,” said Regan. “Under EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, North Carolina and a bipartisan multi-state coalition will deploy natural climate solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, investing in our coastal wetlands, peatlands, forests, and urban forestry while creating economic and workforce development opportunities along the way.”
Cooper noted the connection between two political platforms he has pushed in his two terms in office: green energy and environmental protection. He recently signed Executive Order 305,
“As we move toward a clean energy future, we must also recommit ourselves to preserving, restoring and protecting our natural resources that play such an important role,” said Cooper. “This historic funding … will help us make our state and future generations more resilient to storms, more attractive for tourism dollars and more effective at removing carbon from our air.”
“The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources stands ready to manage this crucial funding that will make our state more resilient to the devastating effects of climate change,” said Wilson.
Preserving and restoring habitats like the Green Swamp help filter groundwater as well as absorbing stormwater runoff. N.C. Nature conservancy Executive Director Katherine Skinner said restoring wetlands helps protect property during hurricanes and other rain events.
“Restored peatlands provide habitat for a myriad of animals, which boosts our economy through hunting and wildlife-watching,” she said.
The grant will support the directives of Cooper’s Executive Order 305, which set goals to conserve and restore natural and working lands by 2040. It is part of the N.C. Natural and Working Lands Action Plan.
The EPA funding will be used to restore over 600 acres of coastal habitats, build living shorelines, reforest over 55,000 acres, plant 1,200 urban trees, and permanently add 3,300 acres to the N.C. State Park System. In addition, The Nature Conservancy will preserve, restore, or improve 126,000 acres of land across the four states, including 33,000 acres in North Carolina.
The Nature Conservancy’s Green Swamp Preserve is nearly 15,655 acres and made up of longleaf pine savannas with plants native only to the area, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The Nature Conservancy’s many management activities at the Green Swamp include controlled burning and restoring pine plantations to longleaf pine savannas and woodlands.
