© 2025 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Protect my public media

From farmland to wetland: Millions of acres in North Carolina spring back to life

The North River Wetlands Preserve in Carteret County, N.C. on Feb. 6, 2023. The 6,000-acre preserve used to be farmland. Now it's been restored back to wetlands to help improve water quality of downstream estuaries. (Josh Sullivan/WUNC)
The North River Wetlands Preserve in Carteret County, N.C. on Feb. 6, 2023. The 6,000-acre preserve used to be farmland. Now it's been restored back to wetlands to help improve water quality of downstream estuaries. (Josh Sullivan/WUNC)

Wetlands protect water quality, prevent floods and serve as habitats for plants and animals. But over the past few centuries, millions of acres of wetlands were drained for development or farming.

Now there are efforts to restore these critical habitats.

Celeste Gracia of WUNC visits a North Carolina wetlands preserve, 20 years in the making.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.