5.3 Residential and Commercial Development
Fayetteville sits in the heart of the Sandhills ecoregion, which comprises the third most endangered ecosystem in the United States (Noss and Peters 1995) and communities in the region grow by 15%–30% every 10 years. From 2010 to 2025, Sandhills communities are projected to grow by 14%–32%. Four NC cities in the Piedmont are among the top 100 fastest growing cities in the nation, with Charlotte and Raleigh listed among the top ten (City Mayors Statistics 2012) . In the Charlotte region, fve times more land is developed, and in Raleigh, three times more land is devel- oped, per person, now than in the 1970s (UNCC 2009, 2012) . Te primary concern regarding expanding urban areas is the cumulative efect of sedimentation on rare and endangered aquatic species and the further fragmentation of habitat for fairly common terrestrial spe- cies that require large unfragmented habitats. Land development in the southern Appalachians has outpaced population growth by a factor of 10:1 since the 1970s (RENCI 2010) . Te southern Appalachians of North Carolina is predicted to experience growth rates of 12%–25% through 2030 (NCOSBM 2014) and is among the most biologically diverse regions of North America, with over 400 endemic species (Ricketts et al. 1999) . Compounding this problem is the “land-use planning gap”—or the lack of efective habitat conservation strategies in land-use planning eforts. Many communities in North Carolina are not consistently using conservation data and have not had access to information on how to incorporate habitat conservation into plans, incentives, ordinances, and develop- ment design. Numerous reports have called for increased coordination between wildlife agencies and land-use planners (Azerrad and Nilon 2006; Beatley 2000; Jenkins et al. 2007; Environmental Law Institute 2007) . At least ten other state wildlife agencies actively address the threat from development patterns to priority wildlife. 5.3.1 Anticipated Impacts Fragmentation due to development and road projects makes movement between existing populations and nearby habitat more difcult. It also increases the risk of mortality from road crossings and predation by domestic pets and feral animals from nearby neighbor- hoods. Road impacts to amphibians and reptiles are of particular concern in the Sandhills and the southeast Coastal Plain. Conservation-based development ordinances or projects often do not address habitat fragmentation. Lands between existing managed conservation areas are at risk, in developing counties, from major development that will impede wildlife travel and habitat corridors. Reduced ability to conduct prescribed burning and hunting can occur due to the encroachment of major development adjacent to managed conservation lands.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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