Wildlife Diversity Program Quarterly Report for January–March 2026
Wildlife Action Plan
The 2025 NC State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) was approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in January 2026. Subsequently, SWAP web page has been updated to provide public access to the approved Plan. Also, a vendor has been hired to typeset, lay out images, and produce a print-ready version of the SWAP.
NCDOT Hurricane Helene Repairs
The Western NCDOT coordinator assisted the NCDOT with development of mea- sures to help off-set impacts to wildlife habitat connectivity associated with repair work along I-40 in Haywood County. This included a January 13, 2026 field meeting between the coordinator and NCDOT representatives and hydraulic design engineers from RK&K.
Aquatic Organism Passage/Culvert Assessment • During Q1 2026, Jacob Freedman completed the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Passage Program grant in the Neuse and Tar river basins. At the expiration of grant funding in late February, 474 culverts were assessed using the SARP protocol, with 74 assessments occurring in Q1. Final QAQC is underway and a summary report will be generated which will include analysis on which culvert characteristics correlated most strongly with passability scores. • In Mid-February, Karl Taggart was hired as the Aquatic Species Passage Techni- cian. His assistance has been instrumental as work has begun on a NFWF Coastal Resiliency Grant to assess culverts in the North Carolina Coastal Plain with a focus on passage for river herring. As of March 24th, about 110 assessments have been completed. And an enormous beaver dam was discovered near Tarboro!
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