LAURINBURG — The North Carolina Coastal Federation was begun by one man in 1982. Today, it has 30 full-time staff, numerous volunteers, more than 16,000 members and a 28-member board of director.
“We’ve done some growing since Todd Miller first started and ran the organization out of his house Ocean,” said Bonnie Mitchell, the coastal education coordinator for NCCF. “At that time, he helped organize successful opposition to peat mining along the coast.”
Mitchell gave a presentation about the NCCF to the Rotary Club on Tuesday.
She told the membership the NCCF now has three offices along the coast — in Wanchese, in Ocean and in Wrightsville Beach. The organization is a 501(C)3 nonprofit and is nonpartisan.
“A lot of what we do has become highly politicized, but our efforts have been focused on what is best for our coastline,” Mitchell said.
She added that the NCCF has five main goals:
— Clean coastal water quality: “Storm runoff is the biggest problem we face,” Mitchell said. “But doing things like creating rain gardens has begun to help.”
— Create natural living coastline.
— Oysters that thrive: “Beyond being delicious … a single oyster can also filter and clean up to 50 gallons of water each day,” she said. “We just can’t afford to lose our oysters.”
— Advocate for effective coastal management.
— A coast free of marine debris: “About 100,000 sea life creatures die due to marine debris every year,” Mitchell explained. “That debris can be things like nets and other items left behind.”
Another area of concern to the NCCF is the Hurricane Florence Marine Debris Recovery Project. A pair of government grants have already allowed the organization to remove about 200 tons of debris from the coastline.
Along with storm debris, the NCCF focuses on removing the day-to-day debris that washes up along the coast.
“Styrofoam is probably our biggest problem,” Mitchell said.
As far as current projects, Mitchell said the NCCF is working to oppose such things as GenX and other emerging contaminants, as well as offshore drilling.
Anyone interested in more information about the NCCF or to become a member can go online to www.nccoast.org.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].