Save North Carolina’s wetlands | Southern Environmental Law Center

Tell NC legislators to protect wetlands.

The North Carolina legislature recently voted to take away protections for millions of acres of wetlands that prevent flooding, improve water quality, and are home to wildlife, including the fish and shellfish our local economies depend on. The legislature’s removal of wetlands protections--putting millions of acres at risk of pollution and destruction --will worsen the effects of floods, which take people’s lives and cost millions of dollars in property damage and lost business, for North Carolinians for years to come.

You can help save our wetlands and our communities. Ask your legislator to restore protections for North Carolina’s valuable wetlands.

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{contact_data~positionHeld} {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName},

As my representative, I ask that you restore protections for wetlands after the North Carolina General Assembly voted to remove all protections in its 2023 session. Wetlands prevent flooding, improve our water quality, and protect wildlife as well as fish and shellfish for fisheries.

Saving wetlands protects our communities. When it rains, our wetlands act like natural sponges that absorb flood waters, lowering flood levels and slowing the rise of waters downstream—a life-saving combination for North Carolinians. A one-acre wetland can typically store up to 1.5 million gallons of water, so when developers and industry destroy wetlands, communities lose flood protection. The legislature’s stripping protections from wetlands—putting millions of acres at risk of destruction—will worsen the effects of floods, which take people’s lives and cost millions of dollars in property damage and lost business, for North Carolinians for years to come.

In the Southeast, nearly all of the commercial catch and over half of the recreational harvest are fish and shellfish that depend on wetlands. North Carolina’s wild-caught seafood industry contributes nearly $300 million in value and 5,500 jobs to the state’s economy. 
Please help save our wetlands.

Kind regards,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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