In the early 1950s, the federation was fighting for stream 

 sanitation laws. Today's 50,000-member organization continues its 

 involvement in protecting the quality of water and surrounding 

 habitats. 



Coastal resources preservation is high on the organization's 

 agenda, including intensified political activity on issues such as 

 wetlands and outstanding resource waters, Corcoran says. 



"We were very active in petitioning the Coastal Resources 

 Commission not to back off its beach hardening prohibition," says 

 Corcoran, noting that seawalls and groins make public beach 

 disappear. 



The organization has spawned another conservation organiza- 

 tion, the N.C. Alliance for Conservation Action, a grassroots 

 political lobbying group. 



As for its combined bent toward sportsmen's issues and 

 mainstream environmentalism, Corcoran says the Wildlife 

 Federation's "muddy boot ecologists" are comfortable with their 

 feet in both worlds. "While they love to hunt and fish, they're 

 really committed and ardent conservationists," he says. 



N.C. ENVIRONMENTAL 

 DEFENSE FUND 



If one polluter of a river can't afford to curb its own discharges, 

 could it opt to clean up someone else's pollution instead? 



It could under an innovative management plan proposed for 

 the nutrient sensitive Tar-Pamlico watershed. 



For example, a wastewater treatment plant might not be able 

 to meet its discharge limits for nutrients without costly capital 

 improvements. But under this plan, the plant could opt to invest in 

 better agricultural practices on nearby farms, thus reducing 

 nutrient-rich runoff in the watershed. 



This alternative strategy, also called "pollution reduction 

 trading," was developed by the N.C. Environmental Defense Fund 

 and other environmental groups in cooperation with a coalition of 

 dischargers in the basin. 



"The philosophy behind our organization is creative problem 

 solving, using legal, scientific and economic strategy," says EDF 

 senior scientist Doug Rader. 



EDF works closely with the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation and 

 the N.C. Coastal Federation. Along with those groups and others, 

 EDF helped develop a permit by which Texasgulf will reduce its 

 phosphorus input into the Pamlico River, Rader says. It has also 

 defended North Carolina's dioxin standards against assaults by the 

 pulp-and-paper industry. 



The organization's coastal agenda includes water quality 

 protection and wetlands preservation, especially the unregulated 

 conversion of forested wetlands to tree farms, Rader says. 



NATURE CONSERVANCY 



If environmental groups don't like the way land is treated, why 

 don't they just buy it and manage it themselves? 



That's exactly what the Nature Conservancy does. But the 

 group isn't full of money. "We try to get it (property) as gifts; we 



take it free too," says Katherine Skinner, director of the state office. 



The Nature Conservancy owns 31,000 acres in North Carolina 

 and protects another 336,000 through conservation easements or 

 ownership by a state or federal entity. 



"Up and down the coast, we have some pretty interesting 

 success stories," says Skinner, citing the donation of 118,000 acres 

 now known as the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. 



"Our mission is to protect endangered and threatened species 

 and their natural communities," she says. "One of those communities 

 is maritime forest." 



The Nature Conservancy owns 420 acres in Nags Head Woods, 

 its only staffed preserve in the state, and manages another 300 acres 

 of the woods for the Town of Nags Head. Together, the town and 

 the conservancy recently purchased another 389 acres of the forest. 



Beech trees, big hickories and red oaks give Nags Head Woods a 

 unique feel, says preserve director Jeffrey Smith. 



"Most maritime forests in North Carolina are dominated by 

 evergreen species that can withstand the harsh conditions along the 

 coast, such as salt spray and lack of fresh water," he says. "Nags 

 Head Woods is surrounded by a system of high dunes, so a very 

 lush deciduous forest has grown up on this island right next to the 

 ocean." 



Thanks to the Nature Conservancy, this precious piece of nature 

 has been preserved for future generations. 



"The town of Southern Shores has been developed on what once 

 was a maritime forest like Nags Head Woods," says Smith. 



The Nature Conservancy is 600,000 members strong internation- 

 ally; it counts 16,000 members in the Tar Heel State. The organiza- 

 tion is tight-lipped about its future projects; such a disclosure could 

 make land prices soar, Skinner says. 



THE SIERRA CLUB AND 

 THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 



These established conservation groups also count coastal 

 caretaking among their diverse priorities. 



National flood insurance reform, offshore drilling, maritime 

 forests, wetlands and water quality keeps N.C. Sierra Club coastal 

 issues chair Ray Lee jumping. 



The Audubon Society keeps an eye on 10 seaside sanctuaries 

 from Southport to Ocracoke, says Walker Golder, manager of N.C. 

 Coastal Islands program. 



The program protects and manages this critical habitat — the 

 primary nesting and feeding sites for 16 species and 13,000 nesting 

 pairs of colonial waterbirds. Q 



6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1991 



