Appendix 5
Reference Document 5-2
developed in 2019 to create a more complete picture of the region’s exceptional biodiversity. The report, “Southeastern Plants Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (Radcliffe et al. 2023),” and the dataset of plant RSGCN are available online at https://www.se-pca.org/southeastern-plants- rsgcn/. To develop a pool of potential species to draw from, the PCA worked with NatureServe to compile a list of more than 10,000 vascular plants native to any of the SEAFWA considering each species’ G-Rank (global rarity), S-Rank (state rarity) and endemism. Unfortunately, due to data limitations, plants native to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands could not be included. The full list received extensive review from botany experts, a technical team composed of representatives from each state, and NatureServe. Based on partner feedback, the technical team assigned each species a level of conservation concern rating ranging from low to very high or “manual review needed”. Any plant scoring moderate or above was ultimately considered an RSGCN. After cleaning the data to remove redundancies, the complete Southeastern plant list evaluated 9,271 species and prioritized 1,824 as RSGCN. Southeast endemic species make up 72% of the plant RSGCN list (Figure 10) To better understand shared plant needs and threats at the ecosystem level, the PCA crosswalked each plant RSGCN to its primary habitats using U.S. National Vegetation Classification (USNVC) “Groups” (Table 9). The USNVC provides a widely-used, standardized system of classifying vegetation types and habitats. The distribution of RSGCN across ecosystems demonstrates their diversity and broad geographic extent. A total of 31 USNVC Groups contained at least 10 plant RSGCN, indicating that many of the region’s ecosystems support plant species of conservation need. As many of these same habitats tend to provide crucial habitat for animal RSGCN as well, conserving these ecosystems can safeguard regional biodiversity more broadly. Table 10 lists the USNVC groups serving as primary habitat that support the most plant RSGCN in North Carolina. By far the USNVC group that supports the most plant RSGCN within the State is wet-mesic longleaf open woodland. These wet open woodlands occur within coastal plains and includes wet pine flatwoods and wet pine savannas (NatureServe Explorer, 2024). These habitats are dominated by longleaf pine with grassy understories (NatureServe Explorer, 2024).
North Carolina’s stewardship of RSGCN
As of the current 2022 Wildlife Action Plan, Addendum 2, North Carolina identified 483 wildlife SGCN and 462 plant SGCN. North Carolina also has stewardship responsibility for 204 RSGCN, most of which are also included in the state’s list of SGCN. The most common RSGCN taxa type represented in North Carolina are birds (n=43) and fishes (n=43) (Figure 11). North Carolina is also home to multiple species that are not only endemic to the SEAFWA region but are not often found in many other states within the region. North Carolina shares the highest amount of RSGCN with Virginia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In particular, North Carolina shares RSGCN stewardship responsibility for six mammals with Virginia that are considered very high concern. By
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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