Chapter 4 Habitats
There are two distinct portions of the Tar-Pamlico River Basin: the upper one-fifth, which is in the Piedmont physiographic region, and the lower four-fifths, which is in the Coastal Plain physiographic region. • The Piedmont portion, running from the river headwaters to the fall line, lies on the Carolina Slate Belt and Triassic Basin geologic units. This portion of the basin features low gradients with sluggish pools separated by riffles and occasional small rapids. Soils are highly erodible and are underlain by fractured rock formations that have limited water storage capacity. Streams in the Piedmont tend to have low summer flows and limited ability to assimilate oxygen-consuming wastes (NCDWQ 2014d) . • The Coastal Plain portion features slow-moving blackwater streams, low-lying swamps, and productive estuarine waters. The larger waterbodies are meandering, often lined with swamps and bottomland hardwoods, and have naturally low levels of DO and low pH. Soils are deep sands that have a high groundwater storage capacity. Natural lakes include the remnants of bay lakes in the lower Coastal Plain (NCDWQ 2014d) . Land use in the basin is approximately 26% forested, 22% agricultural, 18% wetland, 5% urban or developed, and 3% grassland (MRLC 2011; Jin et al. 2013) . Publicly owned lands include nearly 38,000 acres of NCWRC game lands, including Brinkleyville, Embro, Lower Fishing Creek, Shocco Creek, Tar River, and Voice of America; three national wildlife refuges (Lake Mattamuskeet, Pocosin Lakes, and Swanquarter); and, two state parks (Goose Creek and Medoc Mountain). North Carolina’s largest natural lake, Lake Mattamuskeet, also is located in this basin. 4.5.17.2 Aquatic Resource Conditions There are about 9,766 miles of streams and rivers, including small intermittent and ephemeral streams, and numerous acres of freshwater and estuarine wetland communities in the basin. Segments of the Pamlico, Pungo, and Long Shoal rivers and their tributaries have supplemental classifications as High Quality Waters (HQW) or Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW) because they either have excellent water quality or they are a significant resource to humans and/or wildlife (NCDWQ 2010; NCDWR 2015c,d) . Coastal estuarine waters of Core Sound, Swanquarter Bay Refuge, and Juniper, Back, Rose, Wysocking, Germantown, Deep, Spencer and other bays carry either a HWQ or ORW classification (NCDWR 2015a,c,d) . There are ORW Special Management Strategy Areas in the basin for the Swift Creek area (116,782 acres) and Swanquarter Bay and Juniper Bay areas (28,536 acres) (NCDWR 2015c) . These areas require site-specific provisions to protect resource values (no new discharges or expansion of existing discharges) (see 15A NCAC 02B .0225) . The Pamlico Sound estuarine system is somewhat protected from oceanic influences because of the Outer Banks barrier islands. The estuary dynamics, including tidal, climatic, long retention time and nutrient loading conditions, enable eutrophication processes within the Pamlico River.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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