Chapter 6 Conservation Goals and Priorities
6.9.8 Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) is a fish habitat partnership that includes state fish and wildlife agencies, federal resource agencies, academic institutions, and private sector conservation organizations, which have adopted a formal management structure and signed an MOU. The partnership works to conserve Eastern Brook Trout and their habitats and has produced a range-wide population assessment of brook trout; completed extensive work that identifies key threats to brook trout and their habitats; and developed conservation strategies to protect, enhance, and restore brook trout. Additional information about the EBTJV is available from its website http://easternbrooktrout.org. A conservation strategy, which was published in 2011, is a goal-oriented, science-based action plan that explicitly states the EBTJV’s principal goals, presents guidance for decision making, and provides methods for evaluating success (EBTJV 2011) . In 2015, the EBTJV partnership conducted a catchment assessment to identify contiguous catchments occupied by wild trout (Coombs et al. 2015) . Findings from the catchment assessment were used to update the conservation action strategies (EBTJV 2018) , which are detailed in the EBTJV conservation strategies website https://easternbrooktrout.org/about/ebtjvs-conservation-strategies. In addition to the Brook Trout conservation strategies implemented in North Carolina, there are several other conservation action plans from EBTJV partners that prioritize the specific strategies needed for brook trout conservation within each state where natural populations are found. Examples of partner plans include the Connecticut plan to conserve and manage wild trout, the Maryland Brook Trout management plan, and the Tennessee statewide trout management plan. Information on these plans is available on the EBTJV website https://easternbrooktrout.org/why-wild-brook-trout/Agency-resource-plans-and-maps. 6.9.9 Greater Uwharrie Conservation Partnership (GUCP) The Greater Uwharrie Conservation Partnership (GUCP) focuses on the southern and central Piedmont region of North Carolina, which includes the ancient Uwharrie mountain range, lakes along the Yadkin-Pee Dee watershed, nationally significant aquatic habitats, rare wetlands, Uwharrie National Forest, Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge, farmlands, and remnants of Piedmont prairies. The mission of the GUCP is to promote the long-term conservation and enhancement of biological diversity and ecosystem sustainability throughout the Greater Uwharries landscape, aligning with the land use, conservation, and management goals of its participating organizations and agencies. 6.9.10 NC Longleaf Coalition The mission of the NC Longleaf Coalition is to promote the maintenance and restoration of North Carolina’s Longleaf Pine ecosystem, including its cultural and economic values, by forming a collaborative network of diverse stakeholders to provide strategic leadership across
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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