4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
soil. Vegetation is usually a sparse collection of extremely salt-tolerant plants such as Saltgrass and Glasswort. Te center of the salt fat may be completely barren.
• Salt shrub communities occur on the upper edge of salt and brackish marshes, where saltwater rarely reaches or where salt is diluted by fresh water seepage. Tey are domi- nated by salt-tolerant shrubs with marsh herbs often occurring in openings. Estuarine islands are not considered a wetland community but they are particu- larly important for nesting terns, skimmers, pelicans, wading birds, and American Oystercatchers. Most have been created by deposition of dredged material but there are a few that are natural islands. Dredged material islands are usually devoid of mammalian predators and have the added advantage of being high enough in elevation that ground nesting birds do not lose their nests during normal high tides. Estuarine communities were described as a priority habitat in the 2005 WAP (see Chapter 5) ( NCWRC 2005 ). 4.3.2.2 Location of Habitat Lower river portions of aquatic communities in the Roanoke, Tar–Pamlico, Neuse, Cape Fear, White Oak, Chowan, and Pasquotank river basins are associated with estuarine wetland communities. Te shorelines of the Albemarle–Pamlico estuary system and the sound-side of the Outer Banks barrier islands are also fringed by estuarine wetlands. 4.3.2.3 Problems Affecting Habitats Dredging. Dredging and dredge material placement can also afect these sites through draining of marshes or flling of wetlands. Dredged material placement has been used very efectively in some areas to create marsh or upland bird nesting areas within the estuar- ies. Competition with coastal towns that use dredged sand for nourishment projects along developed beachfronts and constraints to navigation channel dredging projects limits access to dredged material for bird nesting islands. Land Use. Development has impacted much of this habitat type and armoring shorelines to prevent erosion is a growing problem. Predation by nonnative predators and disturbance by people and their pets of nesting birds and the lack of fre to maintain the vegetation structure in marsh sites is also of concern. Beach stabilization projects (e.g., inlet channel relocation and eforts to restrict channel movement) reduce availability of microhabitats such as mud and algal fats around inlets. Ditching can drain estuarine wetlands, disrupt normal hydrologic cycles, contribute to water quality problems by conducting point source discharges into nearby surface waters, and be a conduit for saltwater intrusion.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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