Source: NC CLIMATE OFFICE, 7/20/22

You’d never confuse them for the rapid-filled rivers snaking through our Mountains, but the flat, straight rivers of the North Carolina Coastal Plain also have a tumultuous history and an occasional angry streak, turning into raging and flooding torrents during our worst storms. Alongside these rivers, and next to our turbulent ocean, are delicate wetlands that give birth to new life, from rare venus fly traps and seabeach amaranth to various fish species that go on to populate the rivers and the sea. The balance between these hydrological havens and the wild waters surrounding them is a careful one, and in eastern North Carolina, it’s now being thrown off by broader environmental changes due to human impacts on the climate and land surface.

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