4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
recommendations from the North American Waterbird Management Plan (Kushlan et al. 2002) .
• Make eforts to retain old growth foodplain forest for chimney swifts, bats, and herpetofauna.
• Work to develop eight patches of forested wetlands at least 10,000 acres in size through- out the South Atlantic Coastal Plain, as called for in the South Atlantic Coastal Plain Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan (Hunter et al . 2000b) .
• Initiate partnerships with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to begin cane restoration projects and research.
• Further expand the Forest Landbird Legacy Program (a cooperative efort between the Commission, the US Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS], and the Natural Resources Conservation Service) to infuence habitat for birds and other wildlife in mature food- plain forest through canopy gap management and other options. • Concentrate conservation eforts on the Pee Dee and Dan River basins, as they contain some of the larger tracts of intact foodplain forest left in the Piedmont and ofer some of the best opportunities for large-scale habitat conservation.
4.3.6 Freshwater Tidal Wetlands 4.3.6.1 Ecosystem Description
Freshwater tidal wetlands occur in sites where fooding occurs in response to lunar or wind tides, but where the water has less than the 0.5 parts per thousand (ppt) salt content used to defne freshwater. Tidal freshwaters occur in rivers, where freshwater fow keeps out saltwater, and along the large sounds where distance from seawater inlets keeps the water fresh. Components of this habitat include: tidal cypress-gum swamps and tidal freshwater marshes: • Tidal cypress-gum swamps occupy vast areas at the mouths of large rivers and also occur at the mouths of smaller creeks and occasionally along the sound shoreline. Tey are dominated by Swamp Black Gum, Water Tupelo, and Bald Cypress. Understory tree, shrub, and herb layers are generally sparse and low in diversity. • Tidal freshwater marshes occur in the lowermost parts of some tidal rivers and creeks and, more commonly, in large fats along the shorelines of freshwater sounds. Te veg- etation is generally strongly zoned and often very diverse in at least some zones. Two distinct variants are recognized, one with very slightly salty (oligohaline) water, the other completely fresh.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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