Disaster Response

The division partners with local soil and water conservation districts, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other partners to assist with response to natural disasters.  One area of disaster response for which the division is currently active is helping local communities remove vegetative storm debris blocking streams and drainage systems in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, and ice storms that impacted eastern North Carolina.  This effort is called the Stream Debris Removal Project.  The division has received two grants totaling $850,000 from the DENR Division of Water Resources to support this project, and the Division has directed $140,000 of additional watershed improvement funds toward the project.

The division has also lead efforts to assist farmers to recover from the devasting drought of 2007 and 2008 and to assist swine farms impacted from flooding through the Swine Buyout Program.