4.5 River Basins
4.5.5 Cape Fear River Basin 4.5.5.1 River Basin Description
Te Cape Fear River Basin is the largest river basin in North Carolina and is contained entirely within the state. Te Cape Fear River fows southeast through the Piedmont ecore- gion into the Coastal Plain before reaching the city of Wilmington and draining into the Atlantic Ocean. Te basin covers about 9,164 square miles and has 21,300 miles of freshwa- ter streams, 31,135 acres of freshwater lakes and reservoirs, 31,753 acres of estuarine habi- tat, and 47 miles of Atlantic coastline (NCDWQ 2005; NCDWR 2015j) . Major drainages in the basin include the Haw River, Deep River, Northeast Cape Fear River, Black River, and the Cape Fear River. Te Cape Fear River Basin can be characterized by three general regions: the Upper Cape Fear, including the headwaters in the Piedmont; the Middle Cape Fear, including the fall line and the Sandhills; and the Lower Cape Fear, which includes the coastal region with blackwater streams and swamps. Te headwaters include the Deep River, originating near High Point, and the Haw River, originating north of Greensboro, which join to form the Cape Fear River just downstream of the B. Everett Jordan Reservoir dam. Much of the headwater area is located in and fows through highly urbanized areas, which signifcantly impacts water quality in the basin. Blackwater streams and rivers in the lower Cape Fear include the South River, Black River, and the Northeast Cape Fear River. Species found in the Sandhills and Coastal Plain have a high rate of endemism due to unique habitats in those ecoregions. Land use in the basin is 42% forested, 18% wetland, 12% urban or developed, 6% grassland, and 21% agricultural (MRLC 2011; Jin et al. 2013) . Public lands include approximately 234,381 acres of state and federal lands. Signifcant public lands include the B. Everett Jordan Reservoir, Bladen Lakes State Park, and numerous game lands managed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC). Te estimated 2010 human population was 2,072,304, which represents about 22% of the state’s total population (USCB 2010; NCDWR 2015j) . Te basin encompasses all or part of 26 counties and includes 115 municipalities of varying population sizes. Sizable cities located in this basin include Durham, Greensboro, High Point, Fayetteville, and Wilmington. Figure 4.9 depicts the geographic location of the basin. 4.5.5.2 Aquatic Resource Conditions Segments of Black River, Deep River, Little River, South River, and several freshwater streams and lakes have supplemental classifcations as High-Quality Waters (HQW) or Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW) because they either have excellent water quality or they are a signifcant resource to humans and/or wildlife (NCDWR 2015d) .Te Cape Fear River near the Lilliput Creek, Walden Creek, and Snow’s Cut confuences, Buzzard Bay, Muddy
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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