Appendix 6
Reference Document 6-2
sharing sensitive data, b) highlight the habitat patches that support observed species to better identify broad focus areas, and c) mitigate the influence of older data by focusing on relatively unaltered areas where species are more likely to persist. We used species observations provided by the NC Natural Heritage Program and intact habitat cores data created by Esri. Criteria for which species and observations to include were developed through extensive consultation with Heritage. We focused on animal and plant species of special conservation concern to align with the NC SGCN list. To ensure a reliable and relatively current pool of species observations, we excluded the oldest and lowest- confidence records. To supplement the cores with SGCN observations, we also added priority river buffers from the 2015 NC SWAP to the top tier of COAs. We then added a second tier of priority that includes all hubs and corridors from Southeast Conservation Blueprint 2024 not already captured in Tier 1. A third tier added all remaining priority area from Blueprint 2024 not already captured in Tier 1 or 2. Part I: Calculating species richness within NC intact habitat cores Input data • NC state boundary from 2021 TIGER/Line Shapefiles; used to make the analysis faster by reducing the Esri Green Infrastructure data to the area in and near North Carolina • Plant observations from the October 2023 NC Natural Heritage Program distributed Element Occurrences (EO) dataset. This includes only Sub-EOs, not Parent EOs. These data are not publicly available and were provided by NC Natural Heritage Program zoologist Judy Ratcliffe after SECAS staff completed an elevated data access agreement for the source features GIS data. They were used only for the plants portion of the analysis. • Animal observations from the October 2023 NC Natural Heritage Program Source Features dataset. These data are not publicly available and were provided by NC Natural Heritage Program zoologist Judy Ratcliffe after SECAS staff completed an elevated data access agreement for the source features GIS data. They were used only for the animals portion of the analysis. • Esri’s Intact Habitat Cores 2023; to download, select “Open in ArcGIS Desktop”, open the item, and save a local copy. Esri’s description states: “This layer represents modeled Intact Habitat Cores, or minimally disturbed natural areas at least 100 acres in
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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