Three grants have been awarded to advance North Carolina’s Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan

On April 8, 2020, the North Carolina Coastal Federation announced that—since the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan was officially approved—three grants have been awarded to advance its work.

The funding includes:

  1. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund awarded a grant to Hyde County. This project will allow stakeholders to consider developing a service district that would help to manage water levels in the watershed. It would also explore several possible locations to allow managed water to be sheet flowed over the landscape. Additional details about the grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund can be found here: https://www.nccoast.org/2019/09/funding-awarded-to-develop-plans-within-the-lake-mattamuskeet-watershed/
  2. A grant from the National Science Foundation was awarded to a research team at East Carolina University to support a project that will take place within the Lake Mattamuskeet watershed titled, “Using Undergraduate Engineers and Community Engagement to Build Resilient Coastal Communities.”
  3. A grant from the State Legislature, as part of the Hurricane Dorian relief bill that was passed, secured funding in the amount of $1.8 Million for Hyde County to construct a pump station and related watershed restoration infrastructure for the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed.

This research seeks stakeholders’ and residents’ input on designing solutions to reduce flooding in and around the Lake Mattamuskeet watershed.

The project is also interested in understanding how participating in the design process affects participants’ views on how the community near the lake can bounce back after major flooding events.

The research team hopes to advance the engineering design of three projects with input from the community and learn how to better assist coastal communities with developing solutions to flooding issues.

People who live, work, or own property near Lake Mattamuskeet are invited to take part in this research. Those who volunteer will be asked to choose to either have a one-on-one interview with the research team or participate in a discussion with other stakeholders from the Lake Mattamuskeet watershed about potential solutions to the flooding issues.

Given current recommendations for social distancing, the researchers are interested in conducting interviews and/or discussions over the phone or conference call. Participation will take approximately 1 hour. As a token of appreciation, each participant will receive a $20 gift card to a local restaurant. Contact Linda D’Anna at 252-475-5457 or dannal15@ecu.edu if you are interested in participating in this research study.

Photo of Lake Mattamuskeet courtesy of the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

See the North Carolina Coastal Federation website.

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