Chapter 6 Conservation Goals and Priorities
The importance of continued use and reintroduction of prescribed fire as a habitat management tool is critical to several natural communities. Public attitudes about fire have been greatly influenced by decades of Smokey Bear’s effective fire prevention messages that emphasize the destructiveness of wildfire. Although anti-wildfire messages did not extend to prescribed burning, many people are unable to distinguish between “good” and “bad” fire (NCCES n.d.) . Support for prescribed fire practices will require effective education and outreach to the communities and private landowners affected by this management practice. 6.3.4.2 Citizen Science Outreach Citizen science projects help to involve the public in a hands-on way and create a sense of ownership and accomplishment among participants. Continued expansion of citizen science projects involving water quality monitoring, watershed restoration, wildlife conservation, and cleanup efforts are important in North Carolina. These efforts do a great deal to connect citizens to natural resources and water quality conservation and help them understand human impacts on these resources at the local level. In the western part of the state, the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition sponsors volunteer water quality monitoring programs and supports local watershed restoration work that protects water quality. In the densely urbanized central Piedmont, the Lake Norman Wildlife Conservationists (a NC Wildlife Federation partner) actively works toward protection and enhancement of wildlife habitats in the Lake Norman area. Other programs provide citizens with the opportunity to contribute to the base of scientific knowledge about wildlife. The NCWRC supports citizen science initiatives by conducting outreach and training for certain programs. • The NC Calling Amphibian Survey Program (CASP) is a volunteer-based monitoring program that is part of the NC Partners in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation program and is administered by the NCWRC. The CASP survey data contribute to information on the distribution and relative abundance of frogs and toads in North Carolina over time. This North Carolina data will also be pooled with data from other states to investigate regional and national trends in frog distribution and changes in frog populations. Understanding these trends will provide us with a better understanding of the status and health of our frog and toad populations and will enable us to protect critical habitats for our frog and toad species. Information about the CASP program is online https://ncparc.org/casp. • The National Audubon Society sponsors two annual citizen science bird count programs. The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) engages tens of thousands of birders in three weeks of organized group spotting events. The goal of the CBC is to collect the most complete and accurate picture of bird populations across the world. This volunteer-driven citizen science event has been conducted for more than 100 years and is the most complete historic record of our bird populations over time. A second, less formal version is the
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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