4.5 River Basins
4.5.20 Yadkin — Pee Dee River Basin 4.5.20.1 River Basin Description
Te majority of the North Carolina Section of the Yadkin — Pee Dee River Basin is located in the Piedmont ecoregion. Te headwaters, which are partially in the Mountain ecoregion, are located in northwestern North Carolina and a small portion of southern Virginia. Te Yadkin River fows east before turning southeast, and at the confuence with the Uwharrie River, the name changes to the Pee Dee River. Te Pee Dee River continues into South Carolina south of Rockingham and ultimately empties into Winyah Bay along the Atlantic coast (NCDWQ 2008b) . Te North Carolina portion of the Yadkin — Pee Dee River drains an area of about 7,213 square miles, making it the second largest river basin in the state (NCDWQ 2008b) . Tere are approximately 5,862 stream miles and 22,988 lake acres in the basin (NCDWQ 2003) . Major tributaries in the Yadkin — Pee Dee basin are South Yadkin, Uwharrie River, and Rocky River. Tere are eight impoundments on the main stem of the Yadkin and Pee Dee rivers (W. Kerr Scott Reservoir, Idols Dam, High Rock Lake, Tuckertown Reservoir, Badin Lake, Falls Reservoir, Lake Tillery, and Blewett Falls Lake), plus many smaller reservoirs on tributaries. Many tributaries fow through densely populated areas of central North Carolina such as Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and their suburban areas. Te Uwharrie Lakes region is comprised of impounded waters from six major hydroelectric projects which include the four upstream dams operated by Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI) and two lower dams operated by Duke Energy (Burns et al . 2012) . Land use in the basin is 55% forested, 24% agricultural, 13% urban or developed, 6% grass- land, and 1% wetland (MRLC 2011; Yin et al. 2013) . Urban and developed areas have steadily increased in size as the populations of Charlotte and other cities in the basin have grown. Public lands make up less than 5% of the Yadkin — Pee Dee River Basin. Figure 4.39 depicts the geographic location of the basin. Te Yadkin — Pee Dee River Basin crosses 21 counties, and 93 municipalities are completely or partially located within the basin. Tere are several large population centers formed by adjacent municipalities, such as Charlotte, Matthews, Mint Hill and others that comprise the Charlotte–Mecklenburg area; the High Point, Tomasville, and Trinity area; and the Winston-Salem, Kernersville, Clemmons, and Lewisville area. Te estimated 2000 population of urban areas in the basin was 1,463,535 (163 persons per square mile); the basin population is projected to increase 36% to about 2 million people by 2020 (NCDWQ 2008b) . Te largest population increases are projected for Union, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, and Iredell Counties.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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