Audubon advocates across North Carolina stepped up in a big way this year. More than 2,500 people lobbied their elected officials for birds in some way, from sending thousands of messages to signing a petition to meeting in-person at Advocacy Day.  

By speaking up and growing our flock, we are building a long-term, durable movement for conservation. We want elected officials to know that every year, regardless of the political environment, they should expect well-organized and passionate Audubon members to show up at their door to talk about policy priorities for birds. 

As the legislative session wraps up in Raleigh, I want to highlight a few key wins that we made happen together, as well as a few disappointing policy outcomes. Here’s the full recap. 

Plan to Eradicate Invasive Plants 

Our long-standing partnership with Senator Bill Rabon on native plants continued in 2025 with the passage of Senate Bill 391, which mandates a plan to remove invasive plants from state parks and prohibits spring-time mowing along state roads.  

We are grateful to Senator Rabon for his ongoing leadership and believe this bill will go a long way toward getting more native plants in the ground. 

It also adds to other recent native plants wins at the local and state level, including a bill passed in 2023 that requires the state to landscape with native plants on state parks, historic sites, and roadways. 

Conservation Tax Credit Improvements 

On a related note, lawmakers passed a bill this session that fixed and expanded the conservation tax credit to include easements, not just land transfers, so more habitat can be protected. This important tax credit was reinstated last year after advocacy from Land for Tomorrow, a conservation coalition that Audubon is a part of. 

The tax credit gives landowners incentives to protect land and habitat and will result in more protected bird habitat. When the bill was reinstated, new parameters included a sunset, meaning it will expire in two years. That’s something we may work on in the future.  

Emissions Target Scrapped 

Back in 2021, lawmakers passed a landmark bipartisan climate bill that committed the state to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The bill also included an interim target to make sure we stayed on track. That goal was to reduce emissions to 70 percent of 2005 levels by the year 2030. 

In the spring, a bill surfaced at the legislature that scrapped the interim target. Audubon and our members lobbied hard against the bill, which helped secure a veto by Governor Josh Stein. But lawmakers overturned the veto late last month, along with a slew of other vetoes. 

This is undoubtedly a setback, but it’s important to remember that the 2050 target remains in place. Going forward, we’ll need to speak up to ensure this goal remains protected and North Carolina remains on track to slash emissions for birds and people.  

Family Land Protections  

Audubon continued advocating for a family land protection bill this year, known as the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act.  Thanks to Audubon advocates who sent messages and met with lawmakers, we saw early progress when a group of bipartisan Senators signed on to cosponsor the bill.  

The bill would provide more due process and protections to families who own land passed down through the generations as tenants in common. It helps these landowners keep their land and habitat intact, all while accessing important disaster recovery, conservation, and agricultural assistance programs. 

But as critical deadlines in the session approached, we weren’t able to get the bill moving. Like hundreds of other bills in the general assembly, it didn’t make it past the crossover deadline in May.