National Grant will Fund Audubon’s Marsh Restoration Project in Currituck Sound

DURHAM, North Carolina – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded Audubon North Carolina a grant that may fund revolutionary marsh restoration pilot initiatives on the Donal C. O’Brien Jr. Sanctuary at Pine Island on Currituck Sound. The work that may function a mannequin for communities throughout the North Carolina coast. 

The in depth freshwater marshes of Currituck Sound are a globally necessary place for birds, however this distinctive ecosystem faces escalating threats from erosion and one of many quickest charges of sea degree rise on the Atlantic coast. The $210,267 grant, introduced in November, will help the ultimate engineering designs and allowing for initiatives that may tackle these threats, serving to to protect and restore habitat that helps wildlife and protects neighboring communities. 

“This grant comes at a vital time for Currituck Sound, which is quickly shedding its marshes to erosion and rising seas. By determining the most effective methods to assist this ecosystem adapt to coastal change, we’ll be preserving chook habitat whereas additionally serving as a mannequin of adaptation for communities throughout the state,” mentioned Cat Bowler, Coastal Resilience Program Supervisor at Audubon North Carolina. 

Though the proposed restoration strategies have been used efficiently somewhere else, few marsh restoration initiatives have been applied to deal with habitat loss and enhance neighborhood resilience in a freshwater ecosystem like Currituck Sound. Along with companions at EA Engineering, Science, and Know-how, Inc., Coastal Research Institute, Elizabeth Metropolis State College and the Currituck Sound Coalition, Audubon will design and monitor the effectiveness and scalability of 4 pilot strategies for restoring susceptible marshes in Currituck Sound. 

The marsh restoration strategies vary from making use of skinny layers of sediment to the floor of the marsh to assist it maintain tempo with sea degree rise, to stabilizing shorelines utilizing pure supplies like repurposed Christmas timber and coir logs. 

Collectively, these pilot initiatives will assist protect the integrity of two marsh ecosystems totaling 3,481 acres of necessary chook habitat that additionally assist shield vital infrastructure for communities and 1,658 residential properties in Currituck and Dare Counties.  

Defending and restoring pure infrastructure like marshes and seashores is among the best—and cost-effective—methods to assist coastal birds and communities adapt to local weather change. Classes discovered from these pilot initiatives will inform future resilience work throughout northeast North Carolina and past. 

Audubon and our companions sit up for increasing the usage of new and revolutionary pure infrastructure options in Currituck Sound and all through the coast of North Carolina. 

Media Contact: Ben Graham, ben.graham@audubon.org 

About Audubon North Carolina 

Audubon North Carolina, a state program of the Nationwide Audubon Society, has workplaces in Durham, Boone, Corolla, and Wilmington. Be taught extra at www.nc.audubon.org and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.​ The Nationwide Audubon Society protects birds and the locations they want, in the present day and tomorrow. A nonprofit conservation group since 1905, Audubon works all through the Americas utilizing science, advocacy, training, and on-the-ground conservation. Be taught extra at www.audubon.org and on Fb, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.