Restore

Conserving Carolina’s mission is to protect, restore, and inspire appreciation of the natural world.

Restoring Our Natural World

We need to go beyond protecting the natural places we have left. For us to pass on a thriving and beautiful world to our children, we also need to bring back natural habitats that have been degraded or lost. Restoration definitely takes work, but we are doing just that, by bringing back natural floodplains and wetlands, healthy streams, and forests full of biodiversity.

These restoration projects have amazing potential to benefit our native plants and animals, including many species that we’re in danger of losing to extinction. These projects are also very important for people. They improve our water supply by stabilizing eroded streambanks, filtering polluted runoff, and allowing groundwater to recharge. They help reduce the severity of climate change and they help us adapt, by storing carbon, preserving biodiversity, and buffering us against severe weather. They also help meet our growing needs for outdoor recreation by providing public access for activities like hiking, fishing, boating, and wildlife watching.

These restoration projects show how connected we all are. As it turns out, people need many of the same things that birds and fish and other wildlife do. We all need clean, healthy rivers and forests, and we all depend on the ecological processes that nature provides. Restoration is an ambitious, hopeful, and necessary approach that steps up to the challenges of the times we are living in.

Lend a Hand to Restore Special Places

Restoration is hard work. At Conserving Carolina, we are deeply grateful to the many volunteers who give their time and energy to remove kudzu that’s encroaching on forests, pull cattails out of bogs, treat hemlock trees to protect them from woolly adelgids, plant pollinator gardens, and much more. We simply could not do it without you!

Volunteering in ecological restoration is also deeply rewarding. You can see the difference you are making, as invasive species disappear and native wildflowers and animals begin to come back. As a volunteer, you can spend time outdoors, see nature preserves that aren’t always open to the public, and meet other people who share your interests.

Want to get outside and make a difference? Volunteer with us!  

Restoring Natural Habitat at Your Home

If enough of us manage our gardens or backyards or small farms for healthy habitat, we’ll see a dramatic revitalization of the nature around us. Conserving Carolina runs active education programs for children and adults, which increase people’s appreciation for the nature all around us and shows how we can act to take care of it. Through our monthly Habitat at Home feature, we share seasonal tips for improving habitat where you live. Make your place a little wilder and then show us what you see in our annual spring Habitat at Home photo contest!