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North Carolina’s Wildlife
Required Element 1 Information on the distribution and abundance of species of wildlife, including low and declining populations as the state fsh and wildlife agency deems appropriate, that are indicative of the diversity and health of the state’s wildlife.
3.1 Introduction Keeping common species common and preventing extinction are important actions, because any loss of species will reduce diversity in natural communities and will have unknown consequences for ecosystems’ processes, functions, and services upon which we depend (Mace and Purvis 2008; Diaz et al. 2006) . A loss of species diversity can also contribute to constraints in gene fow, which will infuence the ability of a species to survive changing conditions and stressors (Mace and Purvis 2008; Myers and Knoll 2001) . Conservation eforts are often necessary to successfully reverse declining population trends and prevent the need for a species to be listed for protection under federal and state laws. While it could be justifed to rank every species at the highest priority for conserva- tion and management eforts, there are usually not sufcient resources to implement and achieve this level of efort. Time, staf, and budget constraints are resource limitations that must be factored into conservation planning in an efort to support more efective use of resources. It is important to focus eforts not only on the highest priorities but also on those measures that have the greatest impact, can achieve the most benefts, or are easiest to implement. It is also important to take advantage of opportunities to work synergistically with partners toward achieving common conservation goals.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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