Efforts to repair, improve and maintain waterways in North Carolina are getting a boost thanks to a relatively new tool developed by employees in the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Division of Soil and Water Conservation. The new tool called the Disaster Assessment and Reporting Tool or “DART” focuses on specific kinds of projects both in the wake of disasters and as part of long-term maintenance.
While DART is now ready for statewide use, it was born out of a desire to simplify and speed up the recovery process after Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina. Many places where waterways were damaged could potentially qualify for aid through the federal Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program or North Carolina’s Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program (StRAP). However, much of the work involved in assessing a potential project site was being done with paper reporting and required visits. It could be a slow process, especially when employees were responding to a large-scale disaster such as Helene.
More about EWP and StRAP
EWP is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). EWP and StRAP projects can apply to different situations but generally include debris removal, streambank stabilization and other work to restore stream function.
The initial effort to streamline the processes came from Allie Dinwiddie who is a planning coordinator in the Soil and Water Conservation Division. She used an existing data collection application called Survey123 to create a form to digitally collect information in the field. Steven Porson, the division’s StRAP GIS specialist, later used another software called Experience Builder to incorporate an office-based reporting and editing function.
“We had different things that we had to do for the EWP application, including work with multiple different forms, have multiple different outputs, creating maps, things that were easier to do on desktop,” Porson said. “So we ended up creating that in order to help the process along.”
A “story map” about DART offers a summary. Find the story map by clicking below:
Story Map: How DART is shaping the Division of Soil and Water Conservation’s response strategy
The system continued to evolve as employees found ways to streamline the process. The result was DART, which is essentially a suite of customized mobile applications developed by the division employees. As a combination of apps, DART connects pieces of the assessment and reporting process that previously operated separately.
In the field, users can access DART through Survey123 on a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone or tablet), where the application guides them through collecting information about a site, including photographs and geolocation data. It also performs calculations like costs and structure values that can help with the application process. Back in the office, the Experience Builder part of DART allows users to review and edit the information and generate reports needed for the disaster-recovery programs.
Most importantly, the system reduces the need to collect essentially the same information multiple times. Before DART, EWP and StRAP had separate processes, and an assessment could require multiple site visits. DART brings those efforts together into a single assessment.
“We had people doing three different assessments, going on to sites three different times,” Porson said, explaining that EWP assessments could require two different reports while StRAP assessments needed a separate report. “We wanted to combine that into one assessment that you go up to a site one time for,” Porson said.
Ultimately, DART has been able to guide users through a single assessment that can produce three tailored reports if needed. The result is a noticeable time savings, which means the timeline for recovery has sped up. It’s improvement Porson said he’s seen firsthand and heard about from district employees.
“Between people doing paper applications in the field and the drive time for multiple site visits, I think it’s saved a lot of time,” Porson said. “It’s still going to be a long process before we see these funds, but it’s saving our district folks a lot of time on the front end. Many of our districts are still swamped from Helene, so we’re looking at whatever ways we can to lighten the load.”
Putting DART to work after Helene
DART was first used in spring 2025, just as North Carolina was beginning the long recovery from Hurricane Helene. Its use so far has been focused on western North Carolina, where damaged streams and waterways have required extensive assessment and repair.
One of the clearest examples came during Surge Week, when employees and partners across the state came together to conduct EWP assessments in five western North Carolina counties.
The effort put people in the field quickly to address a large number of sites. More than 100 applications were completed during the week as sites were evaluated for EWP and StRAP funding. Porson said that kind of volume in such a short period would have been extremely difficult using the previous paper-based process.
More than a year later, DART is still in use, and the division is continuing to look for ways to use the tool in future disaster-response efforts or for preventative StRAP projects too.* So far, outside of Helene in western North Carolina, there have only been two other events that have prompted the use of DART. One site in Alamance County and 14 sites in Orange County have been evaluated because of damage from Tropical Storm Chantal. In Brunswick County, a tropical cyclone caused waterway damage that was assessed with DART.
The DART Dashboard shows site visit reports. (On the map, zoom in and click on the blue or green dots to see details, including photos, of each site.) Click here to go to the dashboard.
Built for what’s next
Those site evaluations outside of western North Carolina show that DART is ready for use beyond its major role in the ongoing response to Hurricane Helene. Porson described DART not as a single standalone application, but as an adaptable suite of tools that can be customized for different programs and needs.
“Absolutely,” Porson said when asked whether DART could eventually be used for purposes beyond EWP and StRAP. “We’re looking at different ways to make use of this for other disaster funds as well.”
That flexibility means that something that began as a solution to a specific workflow problem could become a broader resource for the Division of Soil and Water Conservation. Porson said users could adapt DART to their specific needs by adjusting or incorporating other applications or forms.
When the next big disaster comes, Porson envisions more surge weeks with DART at hand. He believes DART will make it possible to get the recovery process moving more quickly than before Helene.
For the people of North Carolina, the technology itself may be largely invisible. What matters is what it makes possible: getting boots on the ground, documenting damage, identifying projects and helping restore the streams and waterways that communities depend on.
*EWP can only be used to help communities recover after a natural disaster. North Carolina’s StRAP is not usually limited to post-disaster projects. However, the N.C. General Assembly limited the current grant cycle of StRAP to be allocated only to Helene-recovery projects. Most StRAP projects in the past have involved waterways not directly damaged by a natural disaster, meaning those projects have been preventative, or they have targeted areas that needed attention because of problems built up over time – not from just a single event. Those types of StRAP projects may be approved again in future rounds of funding.