Chapter 4 Habitats
crossed by roads or underground utilities. Roads can cause heavy mortality for reptiles and amphibians and can effectively isolate breeding populations, or separate wetland habitats from upland habitats that are used during non-breeding portions of amphibian and reptile life cycles. Land Use. Routine land disturbance by agricultural operations provides the best opportunities for early succession habitat creation and maintenance in North Carolina. However, the value of modern farmland for early succession wildlife has been reduced as economic pressures, improvements in equipment and herbicides, and social factors have all led to larger, more uniformly shaped row crop fields, as well as “cleaner” fields with fewer weeds in the fields and less weedy edge. Few row crop fields are managed to include a fallow rotation. Some beneficial practices, such as no-till planting, have had mixed success in being adopted. In pastureland, the extensive use of exotic cool-season grasses has reduced habitat quality for wildlife. Cutting hay in mid-summer and overgrazing can adversely affect nesting grassland birds. Clear-cutting timber creates early succession habitat for a short period of time until newly planted timber matures and the understory grass, forb, and shrub layers are shaded out, typically 7 to 15 years after replanting. Economic pressures and improvements in timber production practices (e.g., equipment, herbicides, genetically improved trees) have reduced the amount of time to canopy closure, contributing to loss of early succession habitat. Intensive site preparation can reduce the quality and quantity of herbaceous cover during the early phases of stand establishment. Fallow or un-mowed areas are seen by many as “messy” and “weedy,” and an indicator of a lack of caring or effort by a landowner. This widespread public perception is partially responsible for fallow habitats being reduced in habitat quality or eliminated. Early succession cover in powerline rights-of-way and roadsides is often adversely affected by too frequent or poorly timed mowing. In addition, many areas of fallow ground near houses or businesses are frequently mowed to maintain a neat appearance, while opportunities exist to convert some of these areas to suitable wildlife cover. Piedmont prairies contain highly diverse and specialized plant and insect communities. Currently, only small remnant tracts remain. Fire and/or low intensity agricultural operations are necessary to maintain prairie communities. Current restoration efforts are focused on plant conservation and have been implemented on small acreages that have limited value for area- sensitive grassland species such as Grasshopper Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark. Grasslands larger than 20 acres should be pursued to benefit these species. Wildfire. Suppression of wildfires and lack of controlled burning eliminate an important source of early succession habitat creation and maintenance within many forested habitats. Concerns about uncontrolled fire, liability, air quality, social acceptance, and smoke management, and lack of landowners with the experience and equipment to conduct controlled burns have limited the use of fire on private lands.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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