Appendix 3
MANAGEMENT ACTIONS We group our management actions into 1) conservation strategies, which work to enhance contributed ecosystem services through altering biological conditions and 2) information transfer and processing, which functions to condense information that we collect about the fate of natural resources for informing decision-makers and the public. For example, after each conservation target (see Appendix 3) is identified, we must assess its biological condition, what information is transferred, strategies of conservation we implement, and whom the decision-makers will be. The manner that we perform these activities may be different for each conservation target. The following section broadly summarizes how our work as a fisheries and wildlife program fit into thematic areas for adaptive management. Conservation Strategies Conservation strategies focus on altering biological conditions and subsequently enhance contributed ecosystem services. Our strategies to conserve and protect natural resources fall into two main areas: 1) Inventory and Monitoring, and 2) Management and Research. Initially, we inventory our populations, communities, and ecosystems to determine what resources may act as services to the tribe (arrows moving into and out of Biological Conditions & Contributed Services- Fig. 1). Even though we continue inventory activities throughout every cycle of the process, our next step is to focus on species, populations, communities, and ecosystems that are given priority by social and cultural decisions. Social and cultural inputs that have led to the prioritization of these conservation targets include the development of the EBCI IRMP, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) provided through elder advisory board meetings and language groups, ongoing outreach with Cherokee leadership and community members, as well as tribal and federal regulations pertaining to fish and wildlife resources. These priority biological conditions become part of our monitoring efforts. To conserve these priority biological conditions, we develop adaptive plans that include active management and research. Research can inform what management strategies will be best suited to conserve a biological condition. Research generally comes in the form of experimentation or associating changes of the priority condition’s status with changes to the environment. Therefore, research results can inform management decisions and methods.
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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