Coast guard: protecting 301 miles of shoreline, the N.C. Coastal Federation makes lots of waves.

• Author: Duckwall, Jane
• Position: GRATEFUL GIVING: N.C. nonprofits link the needy with helping hands.

Todd Miller grew up in Carteret County, swimming and playing along beaches that were "still pretty undeveloped," he says. "The coast was our playground ... and having that as our backyard was something very special that is hard to let go of later in life."

Miller, 59, isn't letting go. He's fought for 35 years to keep North Carolina's coast an environmentally vibrant place to live, work and play. In 1982, after earning a master's in city and regional planning from UNC Chapel Hill, he founded the nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation in response to plans by peat miners to harvest energy-rich layers of the spongy material near the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. What began as a one-man operation in the back bedroom of Miller's home near Bogue Sound--with a $500 budget--now has 32 employees, 3,000 active volunteers, three regional offices, an online news service and a $3.5 million budget provided by private-sector and government grants, fundraisers and 16,000 supporters.

Charity Navigator has given it four stars, its highest rating, and reports that Miller earned $123,690 in 2014. The federation's 2015 annual report states that 94 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to support its programs. Its achievements in 2015 included planting 339,500 wetland plants; restoring 17 oyster reefs and 1,025 acres of habitat; educating 2,432 students; advocating for environmental protections; preventing 220,000 gallons of polluted runoff from contaminating coastal waters; and removing 1,368 abandoned crab pots and 7 tons of debris from coastal waters.

The thousands of abandoned crab pots removed each year by fishermen hired temporarily by the federation are mixed with concrete and repurposed for new oyster reefs. State lawmakers have endorsed rebuilding the oyster industry along the coast, with the group's $2.5 million investment split between state and federal funds.

Miller says the group's environmental-restoration projects create more than a dozen jobs for every $1 million invested. "A healthier coastal environment makes it a better place for fisheries, tourism and for all the economic activity that relies on a clean, protected environment." A Research Triangle Institute study, to be released in March, will assess the projects' economic impact.

The federation's challenges have grown along with its scope. Miller worries that the state's forecast of a sea-level increase of 6 to 8 inches over the next 30 years undersells the possible effects of...