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The Need for Conservation
2.1 Introduction Using the best information available, North Carolina’s 2005 Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) addressed local, regional, and state-wide concerns across key terrestrial and aquatic hab- itats and identifed critical knowledge gaps and future data needs. Tis 2015 revision pro- vides a comprehensive review of the need for conservation and problems that are likely to impact wildlife and natural communities. Te revised Plan identifes signifcant wildlife resources and critical habitats across the state and outlines priority conservation actions for these resources. Tis chapter highlights changes to wildlife and natural community resources that support the need for conservation action. A case study at the end of the chapter provides an exam- ple of how implementing recommendations from the 2005 WAP have improved our knowl- edge about Carolina Northern Flying Squirrels, leading to positive results from conserva- tion eforts. Tese actions help us achieve the goals of the WAP. 2.2 Population Changes A review of numerous economic forecast and development reports provide trend and pre- diction information about growth patterns for the southeast region and North Carolina. From US Census data, we know that the national population grew almost 10% from 2000 to 2010 (USCB 2010) . Regionally, the South and the West had the highest growth rates in the US (around 14%) with half of the nation’s growth occurring in the South. In comparison, North Carolina experienced the sixth highest population growth in the nation with an almost 19% increase in population from 2000 to 2010 (NCOSBM 2015) .
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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