Carolina Climbers Coalition receives 4 year funding from the National Forest Foundation for National Forest work

The Carolina Climbers Coalition (CCC) has been selected to receive a 4 year subaward from the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to support recovery and resiliency of public access infrastructure. Our focus will be on our climbing areas within Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests. This grant was made possible by the National Forest Foundation in partnership with the National Forest of North Carolina, who advocated for forest recovery funding following the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. This four year funding will directly support long resiliency, giving the CCC an opportunity to bolster our access and stewardship work across each of the four North Carolina National Forest districts.   CCC’s work under this agreement will include trail repair, emergency access egress planning, rare species impact mitigation, signage, partner collaboration, and volunteer coordination. Will will be serving National Forest areas such as Linville Gorge, Looking Glass Rock, Table Rock NC, Cedar Rock, Whiteside, and much more.

Thanks to this funding, we will be transitioning two of our highly skilled Carolina Climbers Conservation Corps (C4 Team) team leaders from part time to full time; Sophia Stouse and Felicity Sekela. We will also plan to hire additional part time seasonal C4 members and additional contractors to augment various projects across the National Forests.   

“Before Hurricane Helene hit our region, our National Forests in North Carolina were experiencing a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure needs. Following Hurricane Helene, a cascade of organizations and individuals began working together within our National Forests, with a focus on reopening trails and access. Now nearly two years after Hurricane Helene, our call to action as forest stewards is to rebuild in a stronger way that will impact generations of forest visitors, climbers alike. This funding from NFF makes it possible for several organizations, including the CCC, to pull people together to focus on long term resiliency of our National Forests in North Carolina.”

 -Mike Reardon, Executive Director of the CCC  

Work under the grant will run through September 2030, with active project spending required by mid-2030 and the remainder of the period reserved for administrative closeout.

Want to get involved? Stay tuned on our website at www.carolinaclimbers.org/events to join volunteer opportunities. More details on the work ahead coming soon. If you have questions or comments on our future work within the National Forests, please email info@carolinaclimbers.org. Thank you to The National Forest Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service for this incredible support! 

The National Forest Foundation is the official nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service and transforms America's love of nature into action for our forests. Working across 193 million acres of National Forests and Grasslands, the NFF leads collaborative efforts that restore land and water, strengthen wildfire resilience, and expand recreation access. The NFF's work is national in scale, local in practice, and generational in impact. Learn more at nationalforests.org.

This project is supported in part by the U.S. Forest Service.

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