Author: Katie Whittington
At the heart of APNEP’s Engagement and Stewardship Grant is a desire to foster watershed stewardship across the Albemarle-Pamlico region. Laura Frazier, the Refuge Conservation Coordinator with NCWF, says this is the overall goal of the upcoming project Experiencing the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary: Fostering Watershed Stewardship, for which she serves as project manager. Natalie Bohorquez, the NCWF Director of Conservation Partnerships who’s also been instrumental to the project, echoes this sentiment, emphasizing its focus on community engagement and volunteerism to cultivate ecological well-being. The pair have collaborated with a host of community partners with key partnerships in place for each site. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (PLNWR), Merchants Millpond State Park (MMSP), and Edenton-Chowan Recreation Department (ECRD) have all been liaisons for their respective sites, incorporating local knowledge with ecological wisdom to design a specialized approach for each location.
The project will involve the restoration of a wetland ecosystem, invasive species removal and replanting with natives, and the creation of three native pollinator gardens across four key areas in the region. Frazier along with project partners will coordinate invasive species removal and native species planting at each site along with the installation of educational panels at two of the four sites. In an effort to both replenish and educate, project partners hope to restore the estuary habitats to their former glory while also bolstering community knowledge and appreciation for watershed health and stewardship.
Habitat Stewards Workshops
As an affiliate of National Wildlife Federation, NCWF has worked in partnership with the national organization to educate community members on the importance of gardening for wildlife as one antidote to combatting habitat loss. In fall 2024, a Habitat Stewards Training (HST) will be organized by NCWF. This will be a three-day-long course available to the public with a hands-on project component. Involving up to 25 community members, the classroom training will cover information regarding climate change and its impacts on local wildlife. This will include lessons about creating a suitable backyard habitat for local wildlife: providing food, water, cover, and places to raise young along with basic field plant identification and native plants are integral to cultivating a healthy backyard ecosystem. HST will cover specifics on the types of birds, amphibians, and insects positively affected by sustainable gardening and small-scale habitat management practices. The hands-on project component will give participants the opportunity to conduct their own site inventories, plan for habitat enhancement projects, and create their own native habitat on their property or in a public space with approval from all the involved parties.
Pocosin Lakes Sites
Two of the project sites will be located near PLNWR, where Frazier does most of her current work. “I get to do a lot of cool environmental education work out here, specifically at these locations,” she says. The prospect of broadening this work to include community-centered pollinator garden plantings excites her. One of the pollinator gardens will be at Millenium Forest right across the road from the Red Wolf Center in Columbia, NC. “This site is not only serving as a really great habitat restoration project, but also an opportunity to engage the community in recreational opportunities as well as environmental education.” In March 2024, the USFWS and NCWF planted 3000 Atlantic White Cedars in the area. Frazier hopes that adding a pollinator garden will serve as a complement to this far-reaching previous project.
With support from PLNWR, the Wildlife Habitat Stewards of Northeastern NC, and community partners, this location will combine passionate community volunteerism with educational programming to strengthen Millenium Forest’s native plant population. Community volunteers will begin planting native species as early as October 2024, with interludes during the winter months for invasive species removal. After volunteers plant 100-150 native plants, community members and visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the impact of the project through on-site educational programs. Frazier says a goal for this site is to create an environment where “people from across the community as well as those that are travelling through” can learn about the importance of pollinator gardens and watershed stewardship, while in close proximity to a tourist hub like the Red Wolf Center. “Having the educational pollinator garden to...tie it all together and really just engage multiple different ages in the importance of...supporting native plants” is at the core of the project team’s vision for this site.
Image 1: Volunteers planting Atlantic White Cedars in Millennium Forest as part of the March restoration project. Photo credit: Wendy Stanton.
The PLNWR Walter B. Jones, Sr. Center for the Sounds Visitor Center will also be home to a native pollinator garden. According to Frazier, “the space between our actual Visitors Center and where people walk out to get to our boardwalk” is particularly underutilized. With the exception of grass, this area is starving for native shrubs and other plants to take root. Additionally, the landscape is overwhelmed by many invasive species. Work will begin in the colder months to remove these invasive species and make way for native pollinator-friendly flowers, grasses, and shrubs. It’s going to be a “cool opportunity to get more native species back into a space that will both benefit from the native plants and provide educational opportunities for the community and visitors,” Frazier says.
Image 2: Site for PLNWR Visitor Center educational pollinator garden. Photo credit: Laura Frazier.
Visited by 16,500 people from across the country in 2023, the Visitor Center is a hub of both community engagement and ecological diversity. Frazier remarked fondly how locals often frequent the center because “they love to come see the animals,” but also that they receive guests from all across the country. She hopes that this project will help strengthen this area as an educational opportunity to bring watershed stewardship and the importance of native coastal and riverine plants into the discussion. This site also hopes to slow runoff from the Scuppernong River, championing resilience and leveraged community efforts. One of APNEP’s current projects, The Scuppernong Water Management Study, is examining strategies for flood mitigation and water management for this area, a direct complement to NCWF’s project. This overlap will help expand both projects’ reach to tackle water quality and resiliency concerns within the wider community.
Youth Community Engagement
This site, in particular, plans to engage local youth in innovative and artistic ways. PLNWR was designated as an “ecoEXPLORE HotSpot,” making it an area of special interest for the children involved in their youth community science program. Established by the North Carolina Arboretum, ecoEXPLORE engages children in outdoor exploration and education. Youth participants in ecoEXPLORE will receive “bonus points” for photographing native plant and pollinator species of interest throughout the forthcoming pollinator garden, inspiring an enthusiasm for nature while also promoting hands-on education.
Image 3: A sign designating PLNWR as an ecoEXPLORE HotSpot for youth community engagement. Photo credit: Laura Frazier.
Children will also have the opportunity to repurpose invasive plants from the early phases of the project as art, courtesy of programming with Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft (PASFC). They’re a “really awesome partner of ours,” Frazier says. As part of monthly programs stretching from September 2024 through May 2025, Frazier and Pocosin Arts instructors will collaborate to create activities for children that combine wildlife with art. They will begin by introducing the kids to the rich environment in and around the Visitors Center and inspire them to think about how they can transform it through art. Then, Frazier will partner with an instructor from PASFC to teach the children about the wildlife in the region and lead group art projects. One example of such art projects will involve using invasive irises to make baskets. Frazier describes these innovative activities as “repurposing something that would otherwise just be composted,” or even thrown away. “We have a really great partnership with them,” she says, “They’ve got an incredible staff that has amazing ideas of how we can marry art and nature.”
Image 4: An example of a previous art project repurposing irises. Photo credit: Laura Frazier.
Merchants Millpond State Park
The third project will be located at Merchants Millpond State Park in Gatesville, NC. In partnership with the Wildlife Habitat Stewards of Northeastern NC, project leaders will oversee the removal of invasive Japanese Stiltgrass and planting of 200 native plants along the state park’s Coleman Trail. An educational panel will also be designed and installed at the project site to educate and engage visitors in the importance of native plants on the landscape. Frazier explained that Merchants Millpond is a massive park that holds ample opportunity to keep planting more natives and removing invasives as time goes on. Project partners at this site will also enlist the help of community volunteers to remove invasive species and aid in planting native species as part of the park’s efforts to increase beneficial native plants throughout the park.
Image 5: Invasive Japanese Stiltgrass along Coleman Trail at MMSP. Photo credit: Laura Frazier.
In addition to invasive species removal and native species planting, project partners will also oversee the planning and realization of educational programs for local youth and adults. Many of these programs will involve nature outings and experiential education about the project’s goals, outcomes, and the region’s wider ecological importance. Serving the community of Gates County and beyond, Merchants Millpond acts as an environmental hub for community engagement and education. Project leaders hope that by engaging in another habitat project and bolstering the educational opportunities in the area, they will breathe new life into Gatesville’s local gathering place for environmental stewardship.
Pembroke Creek Park
Pembroke Creek Park will be the fourth location involved in this project where partners will focus on restoring the park’s valuable wetland habitat. Pembroke Creek is home to a myriad of wildlife vital to the area’s ecological footprint. Unfortunately, over the years, many invasive species have taken root throughout the wetland, severely decreasing the ability of native plants to prosper. In partnership with the Edenton-Chowan Recreation Department, the project team plans to mobilize volunteers throughout the Edenton area to plant hundreds of native species in the wetland meadow, around an existing boardwalk, and in the West Queen Street Ditch.
Image 6: Site of the Pembroke Creek Park wetland restoration. Photo credit: Laura Frazier.
The park is heavily used by the citizens of Edenton, NC for everything from competitive and recreational fishing to kayaking and wildlife viewing. Frazier exclaimed how she loves “watching the Killdeer [bird] as they go through their different seasons” here. According to both Frazier and Bohorquez, this feeds the community’s interest in helping enhance the wetland ecosystem. A team of volunteers will plant nearly 200 new native plants throughout the ecosystem, supporting vital habitats for the region’s valuable flora and fauna. Additionally, an educational panel will be installed in tandem with opportunities for educational programming. Signage will inform visitors about the importance of protecting delicate wetland ecosystems like those found in Pembroke Creek. The installation of an educational panel in the park about the area’s history, river basin, and native wildlife will broaden this education to reach the wider community. This panel will also be translated into English and Spanish, helping bridge language barriers that may otherwise prevent community members from learning about the region’s value. Educational programs will aim to bring the community together through experiential learning opportunities in the newly restored wetland.
Bringing Together Communities Through Volunteerism
Project implementation will rely heavily on volunteers from the communities surrounding each site. “I don’t think we’ll be hurting for volunteers,” Bohorquez said when asked about recruiting community members for the hands-on work. “We have a large network of folks that are all very dedicated and passionate,” she continued. With 14,000 people in membership with the NCWF throughout the state, each project will have a wide pool of eager volunteers to draw from. Each site will focus on the membership of the local Community Wildlife chapter and galvanize support from there. “We’ve got some really cool volunteers that live in the community that want to do amazing habitat work,” Frazier says. Additionally, Frazier and Bohorquez hope to partner with local schools to engage students in the important stewardship work being done across all sites. It’s going to be a “team effort” getting as many volunteers mobilized as possible, Frazier says. In collaboration with the project’s diverse partners, she hopes to “bring in some new volunteers.” At locations like the Refuge, however, she believes that many longtime community members will offer their volunteer support because they’ll “see the benefits that it’s bringing to their community.” It opens doors for them to “recreate and bring their families and friends out [to] learn more about pollinators, watersheds, and wildlife,” she continued.
Image 7: Volunteers planting Atlantic White Cedars as part of an earlier project at Millennium Forest. Photo credit: Laura Frazier
Looking Forward
Frazier and Bohorquez both expressed immense excitement for the project to begin and gratitude for APNEP’s grant funding. “A lot of our educational signage and ‘above and beyond’ projects can’t happen without this kind of grant funding,” Bohorquez says. With APNEP’s support, “we can make it happen under a faster timeline” and “have a bigger impact.”
Experiencing the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary: Fostering Watershed Stewardship is set to begin this fall with initial plantings at PLNWR’s Millenium Forest in October. Engaging community members in far-reaching restoration, planting, and education efforts, this project hopes to reach thousands of residents in each site’s community. Every project participant will be crucial to realizing success, according to Frazier. She buzzed with excitement when talking about project beginnings and collaborations among partners: “This opportunity is going to be so impactful in fostering watershed stewardship in our local communities and I’m thrilled to collaborate with such wonderful people and organizations!” Follow their journey on Instagram @ncwildlifefed or on Facebook at North Carolina Wildlife Federation and Wildlife Habitat Stewards of Northeastern NC.