Reference Document 5-2
Appendix 5
North Carolina and the SECAS goal
Through SECAS, partners work together to design and achieve a connected network for the benefit of ecosystems, species, and people, and to achieve the SECAS goal: a 10% or greater improvement in the health, function, and connectivity of Southeastern ecosystems by 2060. The work of the NCWRC and conservation partners within the State help advance this goal. In addition to the Southeast Blueprint, SECAS releases an annual report— Recent Trends in Southeastern Ecosystems —that assesses progress toward the SECAS goal using the best available data. This report assesses progress toward the SECAS goal using information from existing monitoring programs and is intended to facilitate discussion around conservation actions needed to meet the goal. Recent Trends in Southeastern Ecosystems (2024) synthesizes 13 different assessments to evaluate 20 indicator trends. Some assessments, like eBird, inform multiple indicators. Assessments encompass a range of sources from remotely sensed data (like the National Land Cover Database) to long-term citizen science monitoring programs (like eBird). States can use this SECAS goal report to assess their own progress (Table X) and overall trends for the broader Southeast Region. However, not all SECAS goal indicators can be assessed at the state-level because they do not apply to the geography or because of limitations with the source information used to inform the indicators. Out of the total 20 SECAS goal indicators, 14 are assessed for the State. The following tables describe the species driving Southeastern states’ progress towards the four bird category goals.
Recent trends in ecosystem indicators in North Carolina compared to the Southeast US
Like other states in the Southeast, North Carolina has: • Increases in forested wetland birds, longleaf pine area, working lands conservation, and water quality. • Declines in areas without invasive plans, beach birds, grassland and savanna area, grassland and savanna birds, salt marsh area, landscape condition, undeveloped land in corridors, and natural landcover in the floodplain. Better trends for beach birds. Of the 15 states and 2 territories assessed, only North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands had any beach bird species with increasing trends. • Declines instead of increases in forested wetland area. Most of these declines are in the coastal plain. • Much smaller increases in forested wetland birds. Declines are concentrated in the Albemarle- Pamlico watershed near the coast while most other parts of the state had increases. • Lower declines for grassland & savanna birds. North Carolina had more species with increasing trends than any other state. Bachman’s sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow, red-cockaded woodpecker, and scissor-tailed flycatcher all had increases. • Unlike other states in the Southeast, North Carolina has: • Decline instead of increase for upland forest birds. There were large declines in cerulean warbler and worm-eating warbler and small increases in Louisiana waterthrush and wood thrush.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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