The North Carolina Land and Water Fund Board of Trustees has awarded more than $28 million in grants for projects aimed at protecting the state's land and water, funding that officials say will safeguard over 10,000 acres and open new spaces to hikers, boaters and birders from the mountains to the coast.
More than $22 million of that total is earmarked for rural and economically distressed counties, according to WNCT. The newly protected lands and waters are expected to become public destinations for hiking, fishing, boating and birding, giving residents in some of the state's less-resourced communities new access to the outdoors.
A Fund With Reach in Every County
Pamela B. Cashwell, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, said the fund plays a vital role in protecting North Carolina's water quality, open spaces and treasured cultural heritage, per the station's report. Land and Water Fund grants have been used in all 100 North Carolina counties to preserve natural and cultural resources for future generations, the outlet noted, underscoring how the program touches both rural and urban corners of the state alike.
Beyond the acreage, the funding is also meant to protect biodiversity. The grants will help safeguard 68 types of rare plants, rare animals and natural communities, the same report states, though specifics on which species or locations will benefit were not detailed in the announcement.
How This Year Compares to Recent Cycles
This year's total marks a step down from the fund's two most recent cycles. In 2024, the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced the fund had awarded over $45 million to protect natural areas, waterways, historic sites and military buffers. That same 2024 announcement stated that over $28 million in grants would go to rural and economically distressed counties — a different rural-funding figure than the more than $22 million cited in this year's report, and the discrepancy between the two years' rural-funding figures has not been reconciled in available records.
In 2025, the department announced the fund had awarded more than $36 million for similar purposes, continuing a multi-year pattern of large annual investments in conservation statewide. That cycle also included grants for four projects evaluating innovative stormwater-management techniques, along with 10 planning projects designed to identify water-quality and conservation opportunities across mountain, piedmont and coastal watersheds, according to the department's October 2025 release.
Where to Find the Full List
The complete list of this year's grant awards is available on the North Carolina Land and Water Fund website, the station reported, though individual project names, recipients and county-by-county breakdowns for the 2026 cycle were not included in the announcement. The fund has also set aside up to $500,000 for Donation Mini-Grants, to be allocated from available funds as applications are approved, according to the fund's own published award materials.
