Renewing the Ecosystem in Jacksonville, NC

by Jessica Scudella

Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center located in Jacksonville, North Carolina started as a community project to clean up Wilson Bay. The Center, just a short walk away from Wilson Bay, is the site of the former Wilson Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant that operated until the late 1990s. Wilson Bay is on the New River and became closed to the public when high levels of bacteria and pollution were discovered.

Jacksonville, a constantly growing city, became too much for the treatment plant to keep up with. Once the Wastewater Treatment Plant was decommissioned in 1998, a massive volunteer effort to clean up the bay resulted in a revitalized body of water as well as a community that wanted to carry on this lesson of environmental stewardship and civic involvement. The former wastewater treatment plant was not demolished, but served as a reminder of what had been. This enormous cleanup effort was the result of the City of Jacksonville’s sense of moral responsibility to clean up Wilson Bay and the New River after years of pollution from the Wilson Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.

A view of Wilson Bay and some of the former Wilson Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Photo courtesy of City of Jacksonville Media Services

The City of Jacksonville Stormwater staff planted 10 square acres of wetlands and, with the help of students and other volunteers, they landscaped Sturgeon City Park. This amounted to approximately 100,000 plants and took about a year and a half to complete. The current Stormwater Manager, Pat Donovan-Brandenburg, has been working on the Oyster Highway project from the beginning. Pat explained how it was necessary to clean up the trash and debris before planting and restoring the area.

The Oyster Highway was created to clean up the pollution. Armed with volunteers, oyster reefs were placed from Wilson Bay to Stone Bay, along the New River, to increase oxygen levels in the water. Bioremediation was used to clean the bacteria from the water with oysters as they serve as a natural filtration system. These efforts allowed the New River to reopen to the public in 2001. Now there are boardwalks and trails throughout Sturgeon City Park.

The Sturgeon City nonprofit was founded in 2001 to continue the promotion of environmental and conservation efforts that were brought about with the Wilson Bay Water Quality Initiative. Their mission is “to become the model for inspiring youth leadership, civic involvement, habitat restoration, environmental education and stewardship of the New River and coastal wetlands.” It was here that students had outside-of-school opportunities to learn hands-on about science. The Sturgeon City Institutes, a high school science program, has recurred every summer since the nonprofit was founded. Here students can immerse themselves in a week of science or marine biology lessons and learn more about the history of Sturgeon City.

Wilson Bay has a large population of Blue Crab that visitors can try to catch. This group is using a pool noodle with a string attached to a piece of chicken to catch them.

Photo by Amber Mallard

In 2019, Sturgeon City expanded into its Environmental Education Center. This 11,000-square-foot building allowed the nonprofit to broaden what they could offer the community. The space is used for many programs including, but not limited, to Teen Science Café, Little Learners, Homeschool Science, and School’s Out. They host a variety of public events, such as their Earth Day Celebration. The building is also a rental space that allows for community use.

Sturgeon City, named after a prehistoric fish that once thrived in the Wilson Bay and New River, was extirpated after many years of pollution in the water. The hope is that one day the fish will return to the clean bay and river.

Sturgeon City has volunteer opportunities from ages 16 and up. To learn more about Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center, please visit their website: www.sturgeoncity.org/. Jessica Scudella is a senior pursuing degrees in environmental science and political science at UNCW. Before serving as an intern with Cape Fear’s Going Green, she served as an intern at Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center. She now works there parttime as an Educator.

An aerial view of the former Wilson Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant. Sturgeon City has a self-guided walking tour with signs throughout to teach residents about the ecosystem.

Photo provided by Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center

Jessica Scudella is a senior pursuing degrees in environmental science and political science at UNCW. Before serving as an intern with Cape Fear’s Going Green, she served as an intern at Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center. She now works there parttime as an Educator.