5.8 Human Intrusions and Disturbance
5.8.1 Anticipated Impacts In one sense, human intrusion and disturbance is ubiquitous. Nearly all human interac- tions afect wildlife—either positively or negatively. Potential impacts from human distur- bance are diverse and depend on numerous variables such as the wildlife species involved and the duration, frequency, magnitude, timing, and type of intrusion and disturbance. Human intrusion and disturbance can be particularly impactful during breeding and nest- ing periods (Steven et al. 2011) . Impacts can be minimized by using common sense and efec- tive management practices that limit intrusion and disturbance by restricting access on a spatial (e.g., bufer distances) or temporal (e.g., seasonal closures) basis. North Carolina is home to many military bases with extensive acreages available for wild- life. Tese habitats may be relatively natural or disturbed and portions of them are used for military training, including foot and vehicular trafc, artillery and small arms fre, explosives, airplane fights, ship movements, and acoustic disturbance. As stated above, the impacts of these activities depend on many factors. Some species may avoid using otherwise suitable habitat. Disturbance can reduce breeding success, foraging and feeding efciency, and limit population size. While disturbance can drive some species away, the resulting open niche will often be used by another species that is tolerant of humans. A number of birds, most of which are nonnative, are able to tolerate or even take advantage of human disturbance, including Starling, Canada Geese, Rock Dove (pigeon), and House Sparrow. An example of human intrusion and disturbance impacts on wildlife is the efect of pedes- trian and vehicular trafc on nesting shorebirds and sea turtles along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Several species of shorebirds, such as Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, Black Skimmer, and Least Tern, nest on beaches at the Outer Banks each year. Sea turtles lay eggs in nests on NC beaches each year. Pedestrian trafc can reduce reproductive success for nesting shorebirds such as Least Terns (Kanapaux and Kiker 2013) , American Oystercatchers (McGowan and Simons 2006; Sabine et al. 2008) , and Piping Plovers (Doherty and Heath 2011) . Nesting shorebirds can be impacted by the fre- quency, duration, and proximity of pedestrians. Vehicular trafc can also reduce reproduc- tive success or reduce hatchling survival of nesting shorebirds (McGowan and Simons 2006; Tarr et al. 2010) . Te impact of pedestrian trafc and vehicular trafc can be mitigated by establish- ing bufers around nesting shorebirds and controlling the locations and timing of beach driving. Among the features that make beach habitats suitable for sea turtle nesting are accessibil- ity from the water, being situated high enough above the active surf zone that sand is not constantly inundated by high tides or the water table below (Mortimer 1982; Miller et al. 2003) , and
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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