Soil & Water Conservation Division develops tool to speed up Helene and other disaster recovery

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 … Read more

Soil and Water Conservation Division explores “water storage” for flood reduction

Storing water on farmland may sound like a pretty normal practice, but a division of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture is looking for land to store water in an uncommon way. The ultimate goal is to reduce flooding after storms, and the idea goes well beyond what you may normally expect like farm ponds … Read more

A familiar face rises to lead engineering services for Soil & Water Conservation Division

The Division of Soil and Water Conservation in NCDA&CS has a new – yet familiar – leader in its Engineering Services Section. Rachel Smith was promoted to the section chief position this summer. Generally speaking, her job entails overseeing the regional engineers throughout the state. Those engineers provide technical assistance to local soil and water … Read more

Department aid helps restore ponds, protect watersheds

When Hurricane Matthew swept through eastern North Carolina in October of 2016, Russell Thompson’s dream of leaving a good piece of property to his son was put in jeopardy. While most of his land survived the flooding rain without too many issues, the influx of water at his pond broke the dam. For Thompson, it … Read more

NCDA&CS aid after Bertie County tornado aims to prevent flooding

As Hurricane Isaias brushed the Carolina coast in early August, a tornado spun off in the outer bands, touching down in Bertie County in the middle of the night. At about 1:15 a.m. on August 4, the tornado started spinning on the ground, traveling northwest for ten miles and widening as much as six football … Read more

Post-Florence improvements still in the works thanks to disaster recovery funds secured by NCDA&CS

Throughout North Carolina, there are dozens and dozens of disaster recovery projects still in the works in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in 2018. Many of those are projects that have been made possible with support from the Soil and Water Conservation Division in NCDA&CS. The division has helped fund many projects aimed at stabilizing … Read more

Department funding helps save N.C. town’s economy

Funding from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is helping protect about $12.7 million of property and business in one eastern North Carolina town. That estimate comes from the town of Oriental in Pamlico County. The project is called the Whittaker Pointe Shoreline Restoration Project, and the Department’s portion of funding was … Read more