Chapter 4 Habitats
priority species. Monitoring plans should be coordinated with other existing monitoring programs where feasible. Monitoring of aquatic taxa is critical to assessing species and ecosystem health and gauging the resilience of organisms to a changing climate. These monitoring efforts will inform future decisions on how to manage aquatic species. Priority Conservation Action, Examples of Focal Species or Focal Habitats • Monitor aquatic taxa to assess species and ecosystem health and to gauge resiliency of organisms to a changing climate. • Develop long-term monitoring strategies to document population trends, from which conservation strategies can be specifically designed to target those species that are experiencing declines.
• Monitor population trends to determine if species are adapting to changing habitats and apply what is learned to future management decisions (Bakke 2008) .
• Monitor aquatic nonnative invasive species, analyze population trends, and assess their effect on native priority species populations.
Nonnative Species
Invasive Species
• Use survey efforts to develop long-term monitoring strategies that will document population trends and providea basis to design conservation strategies that target priority species.
• Monitor the effect of base flow impacts on priority species and correlate results with climate conditions.
• Develop climate change monitoring protocols or methods to monitor baseflow where priority species occur outside projects related to regulated water use (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [FERC] licensing).
• Monitor agriculture and forestry best management practices (BMPs) to determine if they are meeting stormwater runoff control requirements.
• Ensure that bridge and culvert designs allow for stream movement and aquatic organism passage. Design standards may need alteration to accommodate environmental changes and increased floodwaters (Transportation Research Board 2008) .
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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