Central Region Restoration & Education
The N.C. Coastal Federation works with numerous partners to link coastal habitat restoration with environmental education in the Central Region. The federation’s education program engages students and adults in projects to protect water quality and restore important coastal habitats. Our program strives to provide opportunities for individuals to take an active role in the stewardship of our coastal waters and habitats. Learn more.
Current Projects
 Education Programs Get into Full Swing
Spring and summer are the busiest times at the federation – there are grasses to plant, oyster shells to put into the water and kids to get outside.
With 16 partner schools in five coastal counties, central restoration and education staff begin planning spring and summer restoration events at the start of each year. This year proves no different – students are readying themselves to help federation staff plant thousands of salt marsh grasses along the Jones Island and Carteret Community College shorelines, lay thousands of oyster shell bags in intertidal waters in the White Oak River and plant native plants in their school yard rain gardens.
These three programs, the Wetland Nursery Program, the Oyster Education Program and the Schoolyard Rain Garden Program, integrate classroom lessons with outdoor activities focusing on stewardship and the importance of their coastal environment. Teachers are one of the most important pieces of these partnerships. Their excitement and interest in environmental education helps students better understand the value of our coast . So, a special thanks to all of our partner schools and teachers for helping to restore dozens of acres of wetlands and oyster reefs each year.
Contact Sarah Phillips for more information.
Top:Middle-school students at Smyrna Elementary School in Carteret County get a hands-on look at marine creatures. Bottom: Students at Swansboro High School take a break from planting marsh grass.
Marsh, Oyster Work Continues at Jones Island
The federation, Hammocks Beach State Park and our dedicated volunteers continue to protect and stabilize the eroding shoreline of Jones Island by restoring coastal marshes and oyster reefs.
Last year, over 800 volunteers logged in more than 5,400 hours helping with the projects. Volunteers planted over 20,000 marsh plants and bagged over 6,400 bags of oyster shells and marl to create 400 feet of sill. They placed 9,000 bushels of oyster shells in the water to create 1.7 acres of new oyster reefs.
This year, volunteers will plant 20,000 more marsh plants and build 300 more feet of oyster sill along the shoreline of the island.
These restoration activities will help stabilize the eroding shoreline and will provide habitat for wildlife, fish and shellfish. The created marsh and oyster reef will help to filter nutrients and pollutants and improve the water quality in the polluted White Oak River.
See our Jones Island page for detailed information on the restoration and education activities that will take place this spring and summer. Hope to see you on the island.
Kids Ready to Put Classroom Lessons to Work
Students get a close look at plants growing in a marsh.
Students from eight schools in Carteret, Onslow and Pamlico counties are ready to get outside and plant what they’ve been learning about all year.
Beaufort Middle School, Broad Creek Middle School, Gramercy Christian School, Infant of Prague Catholic School, Morehead City Middle School, Newport Middle School, Pamlico County High School and Smyrna Elementary School are partners in the federation’s Wetland Nursery Program.
The students just began their seed experiments with the salt marsh cordgrass seeds many of them collected this past October. The students will grow their own plants in the classroom and, then, will take care of 2,000 more plants in their outdoor nurseries in preparation for a spring planting day. In the spring, the students, teachers and parents from these partner schools join federation staff for a restoration day in which they plant their cordgrass plants along an eroding shoreline, helping protect and restore coastal marsh habitat.
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