4.4 Terrestrial Communities
Monitoring. Long-term monitoring is critical to assessing species and ecosystem health over time and gauging the resilience of organisms to a changing climate. Tese eforts will inform future decisions on how to manage species and their habitats. Studies should include identifcation of population trends, as well as assessment of impacts from conserva- tion or development activities. Long-term monitoring sites need to be identifed and moni- toring protocols developed for all priority species. Monitoring plans should be coordinated with other existing monitoring programs where feasible. • Establish long-term monitoring eforts for small mammals and reptiles in the habitat. Monitoring protocols and procedures need to be developed or refned that will allow us to measure population trends of the priority wildlife species, as well as the health and distribution of this relatively rare habitat through time. • Enhance current monitoring systems and protocols (e.g., MAPS and BBS) to better cover species not well covered by current monitoring eforts. Research. Research topics that facilitate appropriate conservation actions include habitat use and preferences, reproductive behavior, fecundity, population dynamics and genetics, feeding, competition, and food web dynamics. • Continue research on topics including efcient and efective means to manage and improve the quality and quantity of dry coniferous forest, with a particular eye toward techniques that are applicable in our developing landscape (e.g., in the absence of fre, either as a natural event or as a management tool, what other means might be available to sustain this habitat across the landscape?).
• Research how the loss of hemlock afects salamander habitat use and microclimate.
Management Practices. Management practices that reduce impacts and work synergis- tically with other conservation actions are needed to enhance the resilience of natural resources. Particular needs include preserving biodiversity, protecting native populations and their habitats, and improving degraded habitats. • Determine impacts of prescribed fre on these communities and the resulting efects on wildlife communities.
• Develop logistically and economically efective control strategies for controlling out- breaks of the most damaging insect pests and diseases.
• Regulate human activities on steep slopes that may cause excessive erosion or mud slides, and develop and implement BMPs to mitigate erosion.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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