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Project Vision and Purpose

Southeastern peatlands, coastal habitats, and forests are key natural carbon sinks that also provide critical climate resilience co-benefits.
Due to rapid population growth and other pressures, NWLs in the SE region are under immediate threat.
The Atlantic Conservation Coalition (ACC) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) implementation proposal is a regional approach by North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), to reduce GHG emissions by leveraging the carbon sequestration power of natural and working lands.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

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ACC at a glance

$421 million over 5 years

$50 million each in MD, VA, NC, and SC
$200 million to The Nature Conservancy across region

28 million metric tons CO2e reduced by 2050

$15.03/MTCO2e reduced from 2025-2050
= removing 6.6 million gas cars from road for a year

2 project measures

1. Protect and restore coastal habitats and peatlands
2. Protect, use, and restore forested land

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ACC Funding Breakdown

$421 million

$200 million State Allocation

MD $50M

VA $50M

NC $50M

SC $50M

$200 million TNC Regional Allocation

MD $42.4M

VA $45M

NC $68M

SC $42.4M

DNCR Funds Administration

$21M

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Expected Outputs

Coastal Habitat and Peatlands

33,000 acres of peatlands newly preserved and/or restored in NC and VA (TNC)
150 acres of tidal wetlands restored in VA (TNC)
15 acres of peatlands and 595 acres of coastal habitats newly preserved and restored (NC)
3,300 acres permanently added to State Park System (NC)
Two National Seashores protected from erosion and sea level rise (NC)
10,000 of acres of forests, current or future coastal habitats, or agricultural lands restored (MD)
1,540 acres of coastal habitats restored (MD)
2,040 acres of created or improved wildlife habitat (MD)
217,700 trees and 4,800,000 native wetland species planted (MD)
100 properties protected from flooding after storms (MD)
Coastal Resilience Plan created for 100 properties, implemented at 5 properties (MD)
10,000 acres of shorelines and habitats restored (VA)

Forestlands

67,647 acres of forests under improved management in the Appalachians in MD and VA (TNC)
25,447 acres of bottomland hardwood forest under improved management in SC and VA (TNC)
1,000 new acres of agroforestry practices installed (MD)
250 producers and landowners engaged on the benefits of agroforestry (MD)
500 new acres of forest and 13 acres of urban trees planted (MD)
Over 1,000,000 new native trees planted (VA)
1,200 urban trees planted (NC)
At least 55,000 acres of land reforested (NC)
Approximately 12,240 acres placed into conservation, with additional benefits for agroforestry, recreation, and flood mitigation (SC)

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Supports NC’s Executive Order 305

Set goals to achieve the following by 2040:

Permanently conserve one million new acres of North Carolina’s natural lands, with special focus on wetlands

Restore or reforest one million new acres of North Carolina’s forests and wetlands

Plant one million trees in urban regions of the state

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Project Summaries

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Project Overviews: Maryland

Project 1: Coastal Wetlands ($35.3 million)

Install 400 acres of living shoreline, 200 acres of marsh restoration, 400 acres of tidal connectivity, develop coastal resilient management plans

Project 2: Agricultural Resource Conservation and Management

($4.8 million)

Windbreaks, alley cropping, and silvopasture to improve soil health and water conservation on 1,000 acres through cost-share grants

Project 3: Afforestation and Urban Trees ($8.1 million)

Restore 500 acres of critical habitat, enhance forest management on 1,000 acres, and expand state nursery to market locally sourced trees

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Project Overviews: Virginia

Project 1: Hog Island Wildlife Management Area ($2.8 million)

Install 11 breakwaters along 3.4k feet of shoreline to protect 406 acres of marsh

Project 2: Ragged Island Wildlife Management Area ($9.7 million)

Install living shoreline and low breakwaters to protect eroding salt marsh

Project 3: Comprehensive Tidal Marsh Restoration In Guinea Marshes ($10.5 million)

Safegaurd 400 acres of acres of tidal wetlands and beach through erosion control

Project 4: Saltmarsh Acquisition and Protection at Frog Stool Preserve ($1.6 million)

Acquisition of 621 acres of high priority salt marsh

Project 5: New Wetland Restoration and Enhancement Project ($5.4 million)

Restoration of 3,000 acres of identified wetlands, doubling current efforts

Project 6: Acquisition and Afforestation in City of Chesapeake ($10 million)

Reforest 1.3k acre land tract between Great Dismal Swamp and Cavalier Wildlife Management Area

Project 7: Eastern Shore Wildlife Management Areas Forest Restoration ($4.7 million)

Sustainable forestry management on 1.5k acres of upland habitat

Project 8: Quail Roost Farm Afforestation ($3.3 million)

VA Port Authority to put conservation easement on site to enhance carbon stock and support urban agricultural park

Project 9: Tribal Restoration and Conservation Program Set-aside ($1.7 million)

Subaward grant program for federally and state recognized tribes for conservation and restoration activities

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Project Overviews: North Carolina

Project 1: Coastal Habitat Enhancement Initiative ($30 million)

NC Coastal Federation- 100 acres of peatland restoration, living shoreline installation protecting 595 acres of salt marsh, 131 acres of conservation for marsh migration, USGS study on carbon sequestration in coastal habitats

Project 2: High Carbon Acquisitions for State Park System ($10 million)

Acquire up to 3,300 acres of forests and peatlands to add to the state park system and avoid conversion

Project 3: Climate Smart Forestry in Low-income and Disadvantaged Communities ($3 million)

Tree planting and climate smart forestry on 6,000 acres with historically marginalized landowners

Project 4: Rapid Tree Growth High-Carbon Forestry Cost Share ($5 million)

Cost share program to incentivize 49,000 acres worth of high-carbon tree seedling plantings across tree farms statewide

Project 5:Urban Tree Planting Program ($1 million)

1,250 urban trees to be planted and maintained. Priority will be given to small and medium-sized communities with limited financial capacity for urban forestry programs.

Project 6: Executive Order 305 Implementation ($1 million)

Funding for NCDNCR to implement goals and deliverables of EO 305

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Project Overviews: South Carolina

Acquire identified 2.4k acres for conservation

Project 1: Pee Dee Upland ($5 million)

Acquire identifired 2.3k acres for conservation

Project 2: Pee Dee Bottomland ($14.4 million)

Acquire identified 4.9k acres for conservation

Project 3: Lowcountry Forest ($18.5 million)

Acquire unidentified 2.4k acres for aquisition

Project 4: Unidentified Land Conservation ($11.5 million)

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Project Overviews: Regional (The Nature Conservancy)

67,647 acres of forests under improved management in the Appalachians in MD and VA
25,447 acres of bottomland hardwood forest under improved management in SC and VA
33,000 acres of peatlands restored in NC

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ACC Administration

NC Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources receive funds from EPA and sub-awarding to partners. DNCR will report progress to the EPA
Duke Nicholas Institute will be assisting with project tracking

Will develop public dashboard with implementation progress

Grant will be administered over 5 years
DNCR expecting to receive funds from EPA Oct. 2024 and will lead implementation

Duke Conservation Dashboard

https://dukeuniv.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/e887efaa9be3407c99d430757f34b07b

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Climate and Community Co-Benefits

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Carbon Sequestration and Storage

Coastal Habitat and Peatlands

Will reduce 19.2 million MT CO2e by 2050
Models used: calculations by K. Warnell based on current literature, NC and MD GHG Inventories,

Forested Land

Will reduce 8.8 million MT CO2e by 2050
Models used: USFS FIA data, Forest Vegetation Simulator, USFS i-Tree

Verification of Carbon Benefits

TNC will use ACR Restoration of Pocosin Wetlands v1.0, VM0045 Methodology for Improved Forest Management v1.1, and VM0033 Methodology for Tidal Wetland and Seagrass Restoration v2.1 in years 2-5 to verify realized carbon benefits

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Justice 40 and Environmental Justice

LiDAC Forestry Cost-Share Program NC
Urban Tree Planting for small towns that lack capacity, NC
Tribal Restoration and Conservation Program, VA
594 CEJST census tracts and blocks across 4 states could foreseeably benefits from funding
Supports rural economies through agriculture and outdoor recreation
Community engagement and volunteer opportunities for restoration projects
Project identification to ensure at least 40% of all projects benefit LiDACs
Public accountability through Duke dashboard

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Low-income and disadvantaged communities that may benefit from NC projects

LIDAC Census Block Groups identified if historical data and project plans pointed a project potentially being in area

AND

Block group had at least one EJ index over the 80th percentile nationally using EJ Screen

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Climate Resilience

Restored peatlands are less vulnerable to wildfires
Living shorelines reduce erosion and protect from sea level rise
Urban trees produce shade, cooling
All ecosystem types assist in flood control

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Other Co-Benefits

Habitat restoration and protection for coastal wildlife
Filtration of stormwater pollution, air pollution
Support recreational and commercial fisheries
Supports agriculture
Expands green spaces and outdoor recreation

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Concepts into Action

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Blue Carbon

Emissions Reduction Assumptions

Coastal marshes have carbon stocks ranging from 298.30-415.11 mtCO2e/acre depending on marsh location and data source in the top meter of soils. These carbon stocks are emitted when marshes are lost due to sea level rise, erosion, or other stressors.
Coastal marshes provide an ongoing carbon benefit of 1.55-4.23 mtCO2e/acre/year depending on marsh location and data source. These carbon benefits stop accruing when marshes are lost.
Migrated coastal marshes provide ongoing CS benefits as well as additional benefits from reduced methane emissions when coastal marshes migrate into freshwater wetlands. The overall carbon benefit from marsh migration ranges from 1.55-5.12 mtCO2e /acre/year
Coastal wetlands that are disconnected from tidal flows become less saline, leading to increased methane emissions. Reconnecting these wetlands to tidal flows reduces methane emissions by 1.91-4.64 mtCO2e/acre/year, depending on specific salinity levels before and after restoration.

Sources

Warnell, Katie, Lydia Olander, and Carolyn Currin, "Sea level rise drives carbon and habitat loss in the US mid- Atlantic coastal zone," PLoS Climate 1, no. 6 (2022): e0000044. https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000044

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, “North Carolina Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2050),” January 2024. https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/AirQuality/DocView.aspx?id=468498&dbid=0&repo=AirQuality&cr=1

Reithmaier, Gloria MS, Alex Cabral, Anirban Akhand, Matthew J. Bogard, Alberto V. Borges, Steven Bouillon, David J. Burdige et al., "Carbonate chemistry and carbon sequestration driven by inorganic carbon outwelling from mangroves and saltmarshes,“ Nature Communications 14, no. 1 (2023): 8196. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44037-w

Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Maryland Department of the Environment, “Maryland Blue Carbon Flux: Estuarine Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Vegetation. Data and Methodology Documentation as prepared for the 2020 Maryland Greenhouse Gas Inventory.” January 6, 2023 .https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/air/ClimateChange/Documents/VIMAL/MD_Bluecarbon_Flux_Methodology_01.06.23.pdf

Holmquist, James R., Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Norman Bliss, Stephen Crooks, James T. Morris, J. Patrick Megonigal, Tiffany Troxler et al., "Accuracy and precision of tidal wetland soil carbon mapping in the conterminous United States," Scientific Reports 8, no. 1 (2018): 9478. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-26948-7

The Nature Conservancy & Maryland Department of Natural Resources, ”TNC Maryland Blue Carbon Resilience Credit Feasibility Study,” December 2023.https://dnr.maryland.gov/ccs/Documents/Maryland- Blue-Carbon-Resilience-Credit- Feasibility-Study-2023-12-22.pdf

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Avoided Conversion

Assumption: if not for putting x carbon-rich land into easement, x land will be bought and converted by developers, resulting in both release of carbon and prevention of future storage from lack of trees, peatland etc.

Total carbon benefits conservatively deduct 50% for uncertainty regarding additionality and leakage

Land with high carbon storage +

Existing and known development interests

= Preservation of most valuable land at highest risk of conversion

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