Southeast Advocacy: Lockwood Folly River
Shrimp trawlers lay at anchor in the Lockwood Folly River in Brunswick County.
Brunswick County isn’t a hidden treasure anymore. Since 1980 the county’s population has tripled to more than 93,000, and another 35,000 residents are expected to arrive by 2020. The tremendous influx of people has made Brunswick the 14th fastest growing county in the nation. Residents have become concerned that widespread growth could quickly harm the Lockwood Folly River and its associated estuarine systems if business as usual continued.
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Volunteers underwent training to conduct water sampling on the river.
Volunteers take water samples that will be analyzed for fecal coliform bacteria.
The Lockwood Folly is a 150-square-mile watershed where portions of the river closed to shellfishing has more than tripled from 18 percent in 1980 to 55 percent today. Worried about the river’s health and the continued viability of the local fishing industry as development pressures increase, the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners three years ago teamed up with the N.C. Coastal Federation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Ecosystem Enhancement Program to establish the Lockwood Folly Watershed Roundtable. The eight-member group, which included participants from a range of backgrounds, was tasked with developing strategies that would balance development with the needs of the environment.
The final strategies include recommendations such as use of low-impact development techniques by developers, retrofits of existing stormwater problems to reduce pollutant discharge, and the acquisition of strategic properties from willing sellers.
In the summer of 2007, the Brunswick County commissioners appointed an implementation committee to ensure continued forward momentum with the Lockwood Folly strategies. The N.C. Coastal Federation continues to work with the county toward implementation of these critical strategies.
Grant Awarded
The N. C. Division of Water Quality in 2007 gave the federation awarded a $309,000 grant to determine bacteria loading in the river. The grant, which runs through 2010, involves water quality testing for fecal colifom bacteria and total suspended solids. The project is being coordinated by our Mike Giles, Southeast coastal advocate, and trained citizen volunteers conduct most of the water tests under Mike’s supervision.
The water sampling, which began in November 2007, has been completed with a team of 15 volunteers that Mike nicknamed the “Lockwood Army.” These interested citizens did the bulk of the field work by taking samples and recording environmental conditions at the sampling sites. Stantec Consulting, an engineering firm with an office in Raleigh, will use the results to develop a computer model that will identify bacteria sources and determine how the pollution is getting in the river.
> Map of Sampling Sites (pdf)
The grant also includes developing methods to control stormwater, public education and involvement by the community and local officials for an overall strategy to address the stormwater issues in the river. The model will hopefully provide a tool for addressing pollution in other water bodies along our coast and will compliment the Lockwood Folly Roundtable recommendations and help the county guide the implementation of the strategies and retrofit projects.
Added Benefits
An integral by-product component of the Lockwood strategy includes the opportunity for citizens to be actively engaged in projects that identify issues and solutions that the everyday resident of our coast can be involved in. As a result, most of the Lockwood volunteers now are engaged in other coastkeeping activities with Mike. Seven of the volunteers joined hundreds of other coastal residents in Raleigh in June 2008 to lobby legislators for stronger stormwater rules and clean water. They also frequently volunteer at federation restoration projects and man the federation booth at the many events held in the Southeast Region.
This project highlights the need for the development of a watershed management strategy for the entire coastal region to reverse the degradation of our important water resources that are critical to our overall economy and specifically to our important commercial and recreational fishing industry. If we continue the course we are on many more water bodies will be unavailable for fishing and traditional uses.
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