Big Wins for Birds this Legislative Session in Raleigh

The legislative session has wrapped up in Raleigh with more than 2,000 Audubon advocates signing petitions, sending messages, and flocking together for a successful Advocacy Day. All that mobilization led to concrete conservation wins. Read on for everything we accomplished together for birds this year. 

Historic Working Lands Investments 

We had a major breakthrough in our effort to conserve important working lands when lawmakers included a historic $54 million investment in the state's farmland preservation trust fund.  

For this budget cycle, all three conservation trust funds total $109.6 million, with the Land and Water and Parks and Recreation Trust Funds remaining relatively stable. We will continue to advocate for these funds as they are among our most important conservation tools. 

This is closely related to another effort by Audubon and partners to continue the conservation tax credit program, which gives landowners incentive to protect habitat. The program would have expired without our advocacy but now will continue through 2031.  

Combined, these conservation wins equip the state to do more to protect farms and other working lands for birds and people, which has only become more important as North Carolina continues to see intense development pressure across communities big and small. 

Native Plants Momentum Builds 

Senator Bill Rabon continued to be a champion for birds this session by including a provision in House Bill 1094 prohibiting the planting of invasive species in state parks and rights-of-ways.  

This builds upon years of advocacy by partners and Audubon chapters and brings us one step closer to making native plants the default across North Carolina. 

Small Actions, Big Impacts 

This session we also helped pass House Bill 162, the Parking Lot Reform and Modernization Act, which removes parking minimum requirements from new development (essentially promoting denser development and less sprawl) and allows some local governments to improve runoff requirements for redevelopment sites.  

By removing parking lot requirements, we open the door to opportunities that allow us to protect greenspaces and tree canopy. 

Protecting Bipartisan Emissions Goals 

An ongoing issue that we’re watching is Senate Bill 730, which would further weaken bipartisan emissions goals the legislature previously agreed to by preventing the retirement of coal or gas facilities until they can be replaced with new nuclear energy. This would, in effect, extend the life of dirty and inefficient coal-fired power plants.  

The bill passed the House and stalled in the Senate, but we will remain watchful and continue to educate lawmakers on the issue.  

Keeping Coastal Habitat Intact 

On the defensive side, we successfully advocated to protect North Carolina’s long-standing ban on hardened shoreline structures.  

Two bills filed this session—Senate Bills 1008 and 1009—would have reversed this ban, clearing the way for terminal groins, seawalls, and jetties. These structures are expensive and ineffective, redirecting or worsening the erosion problems they are attempting to fix. 

The bills are still in the Senate, but no movement is expected. We’ll keep an eye on them when lawmakers are back in Raleigh. 

That covers the issues and bills we mobilized around this short session. Although there were setbacks for the conservation community, the session provided meaningful progress. Thank you for all you did to help make these wins a reality for birds and people.