Executive Order aims to restore and conserve one million acres of wetlands, forests by 2040

February 12, 2024

Sydney Bouchelle,

NORTH CAROLINA, NC (WWAY) — Governor Roy Cooper signed an executive order on Monday that sets conservation goals for wetlands and forests.

According to a press release from the Governor’s office, Executive Order No. 305 is the most significant executive action to protect the state’s ecosystems since Governor Jim Hunt launched the “Million Acre Initiative” in 1999 and sets the most ambitious environmental conservation and restoration targets in the State’s history.

The Order sets statewide goals for North Carolina public and private partners to collectively achieve the following by 2040:

Permanently conserve 1 million new acres of forests and wetlands.
Restore 1 million new acres of forests and wetlands.
Plant 1 million new trees in urban areas.

In addition, this Executive Order:

Establishes a Native Plant Policy for North Carolina State Government, expanding the policy implemented by the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to apply to all future state-owned projects.
Directs the state to avoid or minimize new projects that would adversely impact vulnerable wetlands like pocosins, Carolina Bays, and mountain bogs.
Directs state agencies to study the social, economic, and environmental value of protecting North Carolina’s wetlands, particularly wetlands that recently lost state and federal protections.
Directs agencies to go after federal funding to protect and restore wetlands to enhance flood resiliency, improve water quality, and sequester carbon.
Directs agencies to promote and support new and ongoing conservation and restoration, and climate resiliency efforts within tribal communities.
Directs Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to research impacts of future climate conditions on the state’s biodiversity.

“This Executive Order positions North Carolina to take a science-based approach to achieving mutually beneficial goals relating to environmental quality, economic development, resiliency, and ecosystem enhancement by identifying and protecting our forests and natural and working lands,” said DEQ Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser.