Chapter 6 Conservation Strategies and Programs
Addendum 1
6.5.1.1 Conservation Programs - N.C .Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC)
Two new web-based decision support tools (DSTs) were launched in Spring 2017 to support priority conservation recommendations outlined in the 2015 N.C. Wildlife Action Plan (NCWAP). They are the Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) tool and the Threat Risk Assessment (TRA) tool. As noted in the 2015 NCWAP, the WRC partnered with the Biodiversity and Spatial Information Center (BaSIC) at the N.C. Cooperative Fisheries and Wildlife Research Unit (N.C. State University) to develop a GIS model to evaluate climate change and other threats to species and habitats. These DSTs are available online through the N.C. Wildlife Habitat Threat Data Viewer and Analysis Tool. The online tool is accessed through a digital map viewer at http://tecumseh.zo.ncsu.edu/coa/. Users can assess risks in terms of the number of threats, the proximity of threats, and the severity of threats, or how well represented a given threat is within, or in proximity to, a parcel of land of interest. The tool allows users to explore individual or multiple threats in a spatial, and for some threats, in a temporal environment in user-defined scenarios. It is intended to give managers, decision makers and other users an accessible and flexible tool to help assess risks to wildlife populations, and ultimately, inform decisions.
6.5.1.2 Conservation Opportunity Area DST
The Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) tool identifies areas predicted to contain the least amount of protected habitat for an ecoregion and natural community selected by the user. Results of a COA analysis will show the top five HUC12s predicted to have the most unprotected habitat. The datasets that form the foundation for the COA analysis are range maps for terrestrial species and the national land cover data developed by the USGS ’ Southeast Gap Analysis Program (GAP). The predicted species distribution datasets used in the COA tool include amphibians, mammals, reptiles, breeding birds, and wintering waterfowl. The GAP range and land cover data have been correlated with a list of terrestrial SGCN and habitats in NCWAP Appendix H, a cross-walk table linking species with their habitats. The habitat and species information provided in the table is described in the NCWAP, Chapters 3 and 4. The four ecoregions used to group habitats used in the COA tool are described in NCWAP Chapter 4.
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2020 Addendum NC Wildlife Action Plan
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