A Collaborative Approach to Voluntary Watershed Restoration in Coastal North Carolina

The Cape Fear region in North Carolina has long been recognized for its scenic location, clear ocean waters, and productive tidal creeks. Like many coastal communities, an increase in the popularity of this region has resulted in a rush of traditional development over the last four decades. Impervious roads, parking lots, roofs, and sidewalks have replaced pine forests and sandy dunes, and stormwater volumes entering the local tidal creeks have increased dramatically. By the 1980s, water quality in local tidal creeks was in decline. As the decades passed, the local creeks experienced progressive shellfishing closures that have since become typical for the region. By 2010 a vast majority of the waters previously open to shellfishing had been closed permanently, with additional areas open only conditionally and outside of predetermined rain events.