The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s (NCWRC) Helene Restoration Division (HRD) is developing its team and beginning to move forward with implementing its Hurricane Helene habitat restoration plan. The 10-year plan is funded through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to restore portions of the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests impacted by Hurricane Helene and other recent tropical storms. NCWRC created this new division last February following the signing of a Good Neighbor Agreement with the Forest Service.
“It’s an enormous undertaking,” said NCWRC’s Helene Restoration Division Chief Doug Besler. “The area of impact from the hurricane on the National Forests is very large and impacts so much infrastructure and various aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that it is daunting to try to determine an efficient way to address those impacts in areas that we have access to.”
In late September 2024, remnants of a deadly storm, Hurricane Helene, slowly moved through western North Carolina, bringing days of torrential rain causing major flooding, land and mudslides, taking lives and decimating structures and wildlife habitats. The NCWRC entered into a wide-ranging agreement with the Forest Service that focuses efforts on infrastructure impacts, aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitat restoration, species population monitoring and restoration, and re-establishing access for hunters, anglers and other wildlife users across both forests.
“Until now, most of the work has been in developing the agency team with the skills and knowledge needed for this kind of restoration work and ordering the equipment the teams will need to complete the projects,” said Besler. “We have spent a considerable amount of time coordinating with Forest Service staff and other cooperative partners to begin the assessment process which will define the critical projects. Although it is normal to want to jump into projects, the funding will only go so far given the scale and scope of impacts, so it is crucial that we are identifying the right projects in the right locations to be completed at the right time.”
HRD is currently in an assessment and prioritization phase and initiated multiple projects that were previously identified. As an example, the first project completed by the HRD removed four damaged culverts on a USFS road on the Pisgah National Forest that blocked access to a wildlife opening and replaced those with stream ford crossings.
“That single project opened up access to a previously inaccessible wildlife opening, created passage for a brook trout population, opened up hunter access and will now allow the treatment of non-native invasive plant species,” said Besler. “We look forward to working on many more of these important projects over the next decade.”
Learn more about the HRD in the featured article from Wildlife in North Carolina magazine’s September/October edition.
Follow the progress of NCWRC’s Helene Restoration Division efforts.