4.4 Terrestrial Communities
and often invasive mammal, is likely to expand and populations currently limited by intol- erance to cold winters will quickly expand.
4.4.17.6 Recommendations Loss of habitat and fragmentation of landscapes are the most signifcant threats to this ecosystem group. Protection of agricultural reserves that maintain traditional farming practices ofers the best hope for protecting areas still supporting high-quality examples of this habitat group, including populations of its rarer species. Support for traditional or environmentally sustainable agricultural and silvicultural methods will help maintain this ecosystem group. Maintaining habitat connectivity across the landscape is also critical, both to maintain the resilience of these ecosystems in face of environmental perturbation and to allow shifts in range and species composition to take place. Surveys. Distributional and status surveys need to focus on species believed to be declin- ing or mainly dependent on at-risk or sensitive natural communities. • Conduct surveys for species associated with successional habitats, including species for which current distribution information is already available or for species that are con- sidered common (e.g., Eastern Meadowlark, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Cottontail). • Continue surveys for all amphibian species associated with small wetland communi- ties, but especially the Mole Salamander, Eastern Tiger Salamander, Dwarf Salamander, and Four-toed Salamander. • Gather better information about the status and distribution of more common species associated with Piedmont wetland habitats (e.g., the Tree-lined Salamander, Common Ribbonsnake). 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.
• Develop long-term monitoring strategies to document population trends, from which conservation strategies can be specifcally designed to target those species.
• Expand and/or target monitoring systems to assess current population status and trend information for all wildlife species associated with this habitat.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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