Chapter 4 Habitats
Table 4.3.8-1 Climate change compared to other threats to freshwater herbaceous wetlands. Threat Rank Order Comments
ditching around a wetland can decrease the amount of water available, changing the types of plants and animals that can live there as well. 4 As development continues inland, water demands in the Piedmont will affect freshwater flows from the major rivers that feed this system through water removals. A change in the amount of water in a wetland can alter the plant community.
Freshwater Withdrawal
4.3.8.5 Impacts to Wildlife Appendix 3 contains list of SGCN and other priority species. Appendix 3-17 provides a list of the SGCN that depend on or are associated with this habitat type. Secretive bird species such as Black Rail, King Rail, Virginia Rail, American Bittern, and Common Gallinule depend on the cover and forage provided by very dense cover of the tall grasses found in freshwater herbaceous marshes. 4.3.8.6 Recommendations Current priority actions are to protect and restore fire to areas that will likely persist or migrate; blocking ditches that are now allowing saltwater into freshwater wetlands; and controlling the spread of nonnative and invasive species. Many freshwater herbaceous marshes have already been lost, so there is also an equal priority to re-create this habitat through prescribed fire where ghost forests exist or where forests have succeeded due to lack of fire. There is also a need to protect the areas that will become tidal freshwater or brackish marshes as sea level rises. 4.3.8.6.1 Surveys Surveys are systematic and scientific methods of collecting information about the distribution, abundance, and ecology of wildlife or their habitats in a specific area at a specific time. A habitat survey is a method of gathering information about the ecology of a site. The results of a habitat survey provide basic ecological information that can be used for biodiversity conservation, planning and/or management, including targeting of more detailed botanical or zoological investigations (Smith et al. 2011) . Repeated surveys using the same methods can provide information about conditions and changes to species assemblages and habitat composition over time. Priorities for conducting distributional and status surveys need to focus on SGCN believed to be declining or mainly dependent on this habitat type and on tidal freshwater wetlands, such as Black Rail and King Rail.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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