4.4 Terrestrial Communities
66,000 acres of spruce−fr forest in the southern Blue Ridge physiographic province and the Southern Appalachian Assessment (SAMAB 1996) identifes over 75,000 acres in North Carolina and Tennessee. Te vast majority of these areas occur in North Carolina. Te 2005 WAP described Southern Blue Ridge Mountain spruce–fr forests as a priority hab- itat (see Chapter 5) (NCWRC 2005) . 4.4.2.2 Location of Habitat Spruce−fr habitats in North Carolina are now found within a narrow range of suitable con- ditions, isolated from each other and the rest of their range. Tere are currently six sig- nifcant areas of spruce−fr habitats in western North Carolina, including portions of Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, the Black/Craggy Mountains, the Great Balsam Mountains, the Plott Balsam Mountains, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Most of the spruce−fr habitat in North Carolina is located on public land, or private lands with permanent conservation easements, with estimates of 90%–95% in conservation ownership in the southern Blue Ridge physiographic province including North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia (Hunter et al. 1999 ; SAMAB 1996) . However, signifcant private owner- ship of spruce−fr habitat occurs in the Plott Balsams and Black/Craggy Mountains, and to lesser extents in several other ranges. Red Spruce habitats of lesser size or with somewhat diferent ecological community asso- ciates occur in a few other locations, including Long Hope Valley, Beech Mountain, Unaka Mountain, Unicoi Mountains, and Alarka Laurel. 4.4.2.1 Problems Affecting Habitats Given the high number of endemic and disjunct species that use the spruce−fr habitat, it is the one community where threats to biodiversity are the greatest. Much of the spruce−fr habitat in North Carolina and throughout the southern Appalachians has been signif- cantly altered due to a number of factors including historic logging, fre, exotic insects, historic grazing, and recreational development. Much of the spruce was logged in the early 20th century and in some areas (notably the Great Balsams) slash fres burned not only the coarse woody debris, but also the organic soil, which has subsequently inhibited the rede- velopment of spruce and fr forests over large areas (Schafale and Weakley 1990) . Te removal of mature Fraser Fir from the canopy has profound implications for the spruce–fr ecosystem and the continued existence of several unique plants and animals ( Nicholas et al. 1999 ). Following extensive logging during the last century, it is estimated that as much as 50% of all Appalachian spruce−fr forests were replaced through successional
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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