About Us
Saving the North Carolina Coast for Future Generations
The North Carolina Coastal Federation is a member-supported 501(c)3 that focuses on protecting and restoring the North Carolina coast.
Since 1982, the Federation has been in the field restoring miles of coastline; training and educating students, adults, and communities to take actions that result in cleaner coastal waters and advocating for an accessible, healthy, productive coast.
Created to give a united voice to the need for long-term coastal management, the Federation remains a collaborative, grassroots organization at its heart and brings together traditional and nontraditional organizations, government agencies, and businesses in order to achieve what is best for the North Carolina coast and to leave a legacy of clean water for future generations.
The Federation has 16,000 supporters and reaches almost 300,000 people directly each year.
Our Mission
The North Carolina Coastal Federation empowers coastal residents and visitors from all walks of life to protect and restore the water quality and critically important natural habitats of the North Carolina coast.
Our Vision: A natural, beautiful and productive coast that is a great place to live, work and visit.
Our Achievements
Since it first cut its teeth on a peat mining issue in 1982, the Federation has been an extremely active participant in coastal management issues throughout the entire North Carolina coast and elsewhere in the nation. Some highlights of our achievements include:
- Establishment of new wetland water quality standards
- Tighter regulation of wastewater discharges from phosphate mining
- New standards for siting marinas
- Designation of 10 percent of all coastal waters as Outstanding Resource Waters
- Designation of 1994 as North Carolina’s Year of the Coast, which translated into a specific environmental agenda by Governor Jim Hunt
- A new federal law that earmarks approximately $250 million for the restoration of the nation’s estuaries
- Preservation of more than 10,000 acres of threatened coastal land
Annual Highlights
Limitation on indirect rate for government grant funds:
It is the policy of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, as a nonprofit organization, that all of our partners limit their overhead/indirect rates to 10 percent of the funds received.
Invest in the Future
Help us protect and restore coastal water quality and habitats throughout the North Carolina coast