4.1 Introduction
Many of the state’s natural community types cover large areas and are well represented, while others cover less area and may be more at risk from loss of biodiversity when con- sidering local and regional threats (i.e., land use change, development). Given the richness of their biodiversity, the ecosystem services they support, and the benefts they provide to wildlife (including SGCN and other priority species), certain natural community types are of higher priority for land conservation action because they are more imperiled (NCWRC 2012) . Tese priority habitats are identifed in Table 4.4. Te NC Division of Coastal Management (NCDCM) manages the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP), which is a federal funding program that helps pro- tect important coastal and estuarine lands (NCDCM 2007, 2011) . In North Carolina, the CELCP Plan identifes coastal and estuarine areas in the 20 coastal counties that have signifcant conservation, recreation, ecological, historical, or aesthetic values, or that are threatened by conversion from their natural or recreational state to other uses. Priority is given to
Priority natural community types and their ecoregion associations
T ABLE 4.4
Ecoregion Statewide
Community Type
All wetlands Riparian and foodplain communities Early successional communities Rock outcrops Streams and rivers Caves and mines
Mountains
Bogs and fens Spruce – fr forests High-elevation habitats
Piedmont
Large unfragmented tracts near existing conservation holdings Managed early successional landscapes Large unfragmented tracts near existing conservation holdings Managed early successional landscapes
Sandhills
Coastal Plain
Sand, shell, and wrack shoreline (beaches) Maritime grasslands and dunes Maritime forests Coastal peatlands (pocosins) Estuarine islands* Inlet spits*
* Community descriptions for estuarine islands and inlet spits are not provided in this document; however, the estuarine islands and inlet spits are found along the state’s coast and are created by natural sand deposition and by placement of dredged (spoil) materials (NCWRC 2012). Tese habitats are important for numerous colonial waterbirds, wading birds, and beach-nesting shorebird species, including many that are listed as SGCN and priority species.
215
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online