5.3 Residential and Commercial Development
particularly impacts colonial nesting waterbirds, priority herpetofauna, and bats, among other priority wildlife.
In the Piedmont ecoregion, species that are common in other parts of the state may decline due to development of priority habitats such as forests of 75 to 500 acres or more. Floodplain and riparian forest impacts, and impacts to seasonal wetlands are of particular concern for species such as the Four-toed Salamander, Mole Salamander, and Eastern Spadefoot Toad. Early successional habitat-associated species are impacted by leapfrog development encroaching on farmland, particularly species such as Grasshopper Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, and Bobwhite Quail. In the Mountains ecoregion, development that impacts unfragmented forest, rock out- crops, and seasonal wetland communities will impact species such as the Cerulean Warbler, Green Salamander, Timber Rattlesnake, and other priority amphibians and rep- tiles. Impacts from major and minor development to spruce–fr and northern hardwood forest are of particular concern for the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel, small mammal species, and bats that use these habitat types. Development of early successional habitats and bogs will impact species such as the Bog Turtle, Golden-winged Warbler, and Bobolink. 5.3.2 SGCN Priority Species Te Taxa Team evaluation considered the level of threat that residential and commercial development represents to SGCN priority species. Table 5.2 provides a list of species for which this threat category is consider very high or high.
T ABLE 5.2 SGCN at very high or high threat from residential and commercial development
Threat Level
Very High
Scientifc Name
Common Name
High
AMPHIBIAN Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum
Eastern Tiger Salamander
X X X X X X X X X X X
Aneides aeneus
Green Salamander
Hemidactylium scutatum Rana [Lithobates] capito
Four-toed Salamander Carolina Gopher Frog
Plethodon amplus
Blue Ridge Gray-cheeked Salamander South Mountain Gray-cheeked Salamander
Plethodon meridianus Plethodon richmondi Plethodon ventralis Plethodon wehrlei
Southern Ravine Salamander Southern Zigzag Salamander
Wehrle’s Salamander
Pseudotriton montanus montanus
Eastern Mud Salamander
Pseudotriton ruber BIRDS Aegolius acadicus
Red Salamander
Northern Saw-whet Owl
X
680
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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