When most people hear “water storage,” they probably picture farm ponds or irrigation tanks, but a new research project at Bladen Lakes State Forest in southeastern North Carolina is exploring a much more ambitious and unconventional idea: intentionally flooding land to help prevent flooding elsewhere.
This innovative effort is part of a broader exploration into how we might reduce downstream flooding by giving some floodwater a temporary home like an open field or forest. Instead of overwhelming rivers and communities during storms, the idea is to divert floodwater to designated areas — essentially “parking” it until it’s safe to release back into the waterway.
Bladen Lakes may be just the place to test that theory.
At more than 33,000 acres, Bladen Lakes State Forest is the largest state-owned forests in North Carolina and one of the largest in the Southeast. It is known for being both a working forest and a living research lab. That dual role made it a natural candidate for this water storage project, which is still in the planning stages.
The chosen site in the state forest checks several important boxes: it’s close to the Cape Fear River, it has the right topography to retain water and it offers a unique ecological opportunity. The plot in question is a 14-acre area planted with Atlantic white cedar around 2010 as part of a previous research project. Over time, the site became overgrown with fast-growing and native loblolly pines. By holding water there, researchers hope the pines will die back because they’re less tolerant of prolonged wet conditions — giving the Atlantic white cedar a second chance to thrive. It could also be a proving ground for the flood prevention concept.
The Division of Soil and Water Conservation is looking for possible water storage sites across the state, as written in a previous article on the In The Field blog. The process to find and prepare sites could take several years, but Bladen Lakes provides an early opportunity to explore the concept.
“We’re looking at the opportunity there to both benefit downstream residents, from protection from flooding, but also to make more water available to increase the productivity of the trees — help them to grow better and survive better,” said the director of the Soil and Water Conservation Division David Williams. “So that one’s got a little bit different angle to it, an extra component from that standpoint. But there may be other places where we can do that with other trees.”
How It Would Work
The plan involves building a low dike and installing a remote-controlled water control structure. When heavy rain or hurricane-driven floods threaten to overwhelm the Cape Fear River, the system could divert water into the cedar plot, temporarily storing it there and reducing the river’s peak flow. Later, once the danger has passed, the water could be released slowly back into the watershed.
The ability to test the remote control element is a key part of the project.
“We’re also demonstrating automated water control structures, which is something that we can control it and operate it remotely, which means that you don’t necessarily have to send somebody out there to do a manual operation right before a storm when they may be pulled in 14 different directions,” Williams said. “We can control that with the push of a button or a cell phone signal. So that’s kind of the one of the aspects of this we’re looking at as well.”
Still in the Planning Stage
Although promising, the project is still working through some very practical hurdles like finding a contractor willing to do the work in such a remote area.
Hans Rohr, the Forest Supervisor at Bladen Lakes, and Lisa Hartrick, the forest’s management forester, said they’ve gotten approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and received a detailed scope of work from East Carolina University, which is leading the research work. Now they just need someone to do the job to install a water control structure and any associated work on the surround land.
“We’ve been given the scope of work. We just are trying to find somebody who will give us a quote so we can start moving forward,” Hartrick said. “We have the funding. We need somebody who’s willing to do the work first.”
A Test Site with Potential
The project builds on Bladen Lakes’ long-standing commitment to research. The Atlantic white cedar plot was originally planted to explore how different site prep methods — mulching versus burning — affect tree survival. Now, the site is being repurposed to test something much bigger: how land might actively contribute to flood mitigation on a watershed scale.
In many ways, the cedar plot is ideal for the experiment. It’s bowl-shaped and surrounded by natural elevation changes. It even has a canal running through it that Rohr estimates was dug about a century ago, providing both a source for water diversion and a channel for controlled release.
“It wouldn’t hold back billions of gallons of water, but at least it will show in a small area whether it’s possible or not to do this – what they have in mind after especially a big rain event or hurricane,” Rohr said.
If the experiment is successful, it could offer a blueprint for similar projects across North Carolina and beyond.
What Comes Next?
As the team continues looking for a contractor, hopes are high that this test plot could lead to something much bigger. The lessons learned at Bladen Lakes could become a model for flood mitigation on farmland, timberland and other rural properties, especially in flood-prone watersheds across eastern North Carolina.
Williams mentioned that as the effort continues to find suitable water storage sites, willing landowners will be important. For now, the forest remains a proving ground for trees, water control structures and big ideas that could one day make a big difference.