South Raleigh News

Governor Roy Cooper and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced a historic $421 million grant award under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program. This funding aims to support a wide range of carbon-reducing natural land conservation and restoration projects, preserving, enhancing, or restoring over 200,000 acres across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.

“Protecting our natural lands for future generations is not only critical to our fight against climate change but also our state’s economy and tourism industries,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “This major award from the Biden-Harris administration will strengthen our bipartisan partnership to conserve and restore public and private lands across state lines.”

Reid Wilson, DNCR Secretary, added, “This substantial Climate Pollution Reduction Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will enable North Carolina to conserve more natural lands and restore degraded streams and wetlands. These projects will make our state more resilient to the devastating effects of climate change.”

The "Atlantic Conservation Coalition" will collaborate with The Nature Conservancy to focus on conserving and restoring crucial peatland wetlands, coastal habitats, and forests. Partners in all four states identified high-value projects that aim to significantly reduce carbon emissions, enhance regional resilience to natural hazards, protect vital lands from development threats and pollution, and benefit underserved communities. This grant is among the largest ever awarded by the EPA for nature-based climate solutions.

Each participating state will receive $50 million for immediate "shovel-ready" projects. An additional $200 million is allocated to The Nature Conservancy for extensive forest and wetland restoration projects throughout the coalition region. The 21 identified projects are projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 28 million metric tons of CO2e by 2050. These initiatives include salt marsh restoration, land conservation for outdoor recreation, living shorelines construction, cost-assistance for small forest landowners, urban tree planting, farmland preservation, and reforestation.

Funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, this grant supports each state's existing emission reduction goals. In North Carolina specifically, it aligns with Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 305 which targets conservation and restoration of natural lands by 2040 as outlined in the North Carolina Natural and Working Lands Action Plan. Planned activities include restoring over 600 acres of coastal habitats, building living shorelines, reforesting over 55,000 acres, planting 1,200 urban trees, and adding 3,300 acres permanently to the North Carolina State Park System.

Further details about the Atlantic Conservation Coalition’s projects can be found here.

Additional information on other Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Awards is available here.