6.5 State Conservation Partners
NCDWR is also responsible for monitoring aquatic toxicology through support of the USEPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program; evaluating water quality of streams and rivers using the fsh and benthic macroinvertebrate com- munities as a measure of environmental condition to assign bioclassifcations to surface waters; and collecting and analyzing biological, chemical, and physical data from a variety of surface waters using a statewide network of sampling sites. Key programs and resources that support conservation priorities are described and summarized in Appendix M (page 1255). 6.5.7 NC Division of Mitigation Services (NCDMS) NC Ecosystem Enhancement Program (NCEEP) was created in 2003 out of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between USACE, NCDENR, and the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT), efectively merging the NCDENR Wetlands Restoration Program with resources from the NCDOT Ofce of Natural Environment. In spring 2015, the agency was renamed NC Division of Mitigation Services (NCDMS), but continues to be recognized as NCEEP. Te mission of NCEEP is to restore, enhance, and protect the state’s wetlands, streams, and streamside bufers, with an aim to improve the state’s compensatory mitigation process for unavoidable impacts to wetlands and streams. NCEEP will identify and implement projects within the context of a watershed approach based on multiple scales of planning, provide functional replacement based on watershed needs through stream, bufer, and wetlands projects, and provide watershed planning and project implementation in advance of impacts. Te existing Watershed Restoration Plans, developed by the Wetlands Restoration Program in cooperation with, and on the same fve-year planning cycle as the NCDWQ Basinwide Planning Program, are key to NCEEP eforts. Key programs and resources that support conservation priorities are described and summarized in Appendix M (page 1256). 6.5.8 NC Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources (NCDEMLR) In 2013, the NCDENR Division of Land Resources was reorganized. A new Energy Section was established and sediment and erosion control and stormwater manage- ment responsibilities, previously part of the Division of Water Quality and Division of Water Resources, were merged with the Land Quality Section and the new organization became the Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources. Te NCDEMLR Land Quality Section regulates and provides technical assistance related to mining, dams, sediment and erosion control, and stormwater management. Te Energy Section is responsible for oil and shale gas management, transportation, renewables, and the implementation of the
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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