Erin Fleckenstein

Term: 2019 - 2022

Action Team Assignments: Restoration Strategies, Oyster Habitat Restoration

Monitoring and Assessment Team Assignment: Aquatic Fauna

STAC Member Since: November 2010

Title: Coastal Scientist

Department: Northern Regional Office

Organization: North Carolina Coastal Federation

Education: MS Marine Biology, North Carolina at Wilmington (2007) BS, Marine and Freshwater Biology, University of New Hampshire, Durham (2001)

Primary Focus Area: Estuarine habitat restoration and conservation; Coastal water quality

Secondary Focus Area(s): Environmental Education/Outreach

Career Experiences: In my present position, I am responsible for the implementation and management of NCCF’s habitat restoration projects from our Northern Regional Office to include wetland, stormwater, hydrologic, oyster and shoreline restoration projects. Currently, I 1) oversee a landscape scale hydrologic restoration project in Hyde County which is aimed at restoring historic water flows within a 42,500 acre drainage district. This project redirects agricultural waters that would otherwise be discharged to coastal water ways; creating wetland habitat, building resiliency into the landscape, forging unique partnerships between farmers and environmental groups, and developing new water management regimes on large farms in the County; 2) coordinate an oyster work group which is a collaborative effort between N.C. state government, ngos, local fishermen, and universities aimed at developing a basinwide restoration plan for oysters in Pamlico Sound; 3) implement and monitor living shoreline projects in Dare and Hyde Counties, and 4) install, maintain and monitor a network of stormwater retrofits throughout NCCF’s northern region. Prior to working with the federation I studied coastal forested wetland systems, bald cypress and Atlantic white cedar swamps, in NC and NH respectively. In addition, I worked for the Seacoast Land Trust in Portsmouth, New Hampshire as their membership and outreach coordinator and for the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, New Hampshire as a Naturalist and Camp Counselor.