4.4 Terrestrial Communities
excavations with conditions inside the mine shafts and tunnels that resemble conditions in natural caves. Tat being said, the range of variability of those conditions is extensive.
Caves and mines were described in the 2005 WAP as a priority habitat (see Chapter 5) (NCWRC 2005) .
4.4.1.2 Location of Habitat According to Christman and Culver (2001) , caves are common in the United States. Details about cave locations in North Carolina are not provided in this document in order to pro- tect them from vandalism and degradation that can occur when used by casual or recre- ational visitors. Old mines that may pose a geologic hazard (pre–North Carolina Mining Act) and have subsurface workings have been documented in a database previously main- tained in the Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS) of USGS and the Mineral Availability System/Mineral Industry Locator System (MAS/MILS) in the US Bureau of Mines (USBM), which is now part of USGS. Figure 4.5 represents generalized location information of this dataset (McFaul et al. 2000) ; however, we have made no attempt to verify the type of subsurface feature or location represented by the data. While this data set was developed by USBM/USGS to portray the distribution of old mine workings in North Carolina and contains non-confdential data, it should be recognized that these sites are located on privately owned land in most cases.
Statewide location of subsurface mines (McFaul et al. 2000)
F IGURE 4.5
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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