7.1 Introduction
habitat availability, use, and condition over time, and can be used to measure the efectiveness of habitat-based management activities. Habitat and natural community monitoring is necessary to track landscape-level trends and to anticipate future needs as threats change. • Implementation monitoring is needed to measure project success and advancement toward achieving project goals. It allows us to adapt conservation actions to respond appropriately to new information or to changing conditions. Monitoring needs for particular species or guilds are detailed in other sections of this Plan: Chapters 3 (Species), Chapter 4 (Habitats), and Chapter 5 (Treats) .Tis chapter provides information about monitoring activities conducted by NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) and conservation partners. Tese activities implement the recommendations made in previous chapters and are accomplished through the planning process and col- laboration and cooperation among the agencies, organizations, and initiatives discussed in Chapter 6. Section 7.2 provides information about species-specifc and guild-level monitoring activ- ities, while Section 7.3 addresses habitat and natural community monitoring. A list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) can be found in Appendix G and their hab- itat associations are provided in Appendix H. Lists of monitoring activities and programs conducted by NCWRC and partners is available in Appendix O. 7.1.1 Monitoring on Public Lands In North Carolina, the largest acreages of publicly owned land are managed by state and federal agencies, and there are many smaller tracts owned by local municipalities and conservation organizations. Species and habitat monitoring is part of routine monitoring conducted on state and federal public lands. NCWRC coordinates with other agencies and organizations to identify shared priorities and to facilitate efcient monitoring and data synthesis. Table 7.1 provides examples of large tracts of public lands monitored by federal and state agencies. More information about the management programs on these lands can be found in Chapter 6. 7.1.2 Monitoring Coordination and Data Sharing Coordinated monitoring eforts are critical to achieving efcient and efective conserva- tion. Local eforts help to sustain and strengthen monitoring programs that beneft sea turtles, Bog Turtles, and colonial nesting waterbirds in North Carolina. Initiatives such as the South American Migratory Bird Initiative (SAMBI), Partners In Flight (PIF), and the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee (RRCC), and cooperative agreements such as
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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