Audubon North Carolina and its partners are the recipients of $50,000 in TogetherGreen innovation grants funding, provided through an alliance between National Audubon Society and Toyota. The program provides financial support for projects that use innovative approaches and technologies to engage new and diverse audiences in conservation and tackle pressing conservation problems.
"Never underestimate ingenuity and innovation. The approaches that will help us tackle the enormous environmental challenges confronting us today are going to come from unlikely and unpredictable places," says David Yarnold, Audubon president. "Each innovation grant project is an opportunity for Audubon to partner with local organizations to test and implement creative approaches to build healthier communities and achieve significant conservation results. And as our alliance with Toyota shows, when organizations work together, we can exponentially magnify our impact."
With this funding, Audubon North Carolina and its partners propose to use various inventive coastal restoration techniques to create a series of living shorelines along the eastern portion of Beacon Island that will slow erosion and rebuild land on this important nesting site for brown pelicans and other waterbirds. Restoration specialists with the North Carolina Coastal Federation and Audubon North Carolina will partner with the local Ocracoke Island fishing community to build up the eroding shoreline using bags filled with recycled oyster shells and planting native marsh grasses. During the tourism season, tour boat operators will partner with Audubon North Carolina and the North Carolina Coastal Federation to engage and inform local visitors of the critical role the island plays for brown pelicans.
"This TogetherGreen grant not only gives us the ability to help buffer the brown pelican's nesting area from the increased erosion it's experiencing, but it also provides us with a way to prevent sedimentation of the shallow waters in Pamlico Sound, which provide valuable habitat for many fish, crabs, oysters and many other aquatic species," says Dr. Lexia Weaver of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, who will be leading the restoration work. " We're grateful for the opportunity to implement this project."
Since 2008, the TogetherGreen innovation grants program has awarded more than $4.7 million to more than 160 environmental projects nationwide. For complete details, visit www.togethergreen.org/grants.