North Carolina's Diverse Lands, Waters, and Wildlife
North Carolina stretches from a thin strand of sand known as the Outer Banks that extends out into the Atlantic Ocean and stretches back across 1.8 million acres of the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary and over the black water streams and pocosins of the coastal plain. The state covers the rolling hills of the piedmont, then climbs into the mountains where elevations may exceed 6,000 feet and plants and animals from colder climates are common.
Sea turtles nest on the state’s Atlantic beaches. Thousands of nesting pairs of royal terns may take flight simultaneously off an island rookery when disturbed. Red cockaded woodpeckers live in remnants of what was once a vast longleaf pine forest.
North Carolina's Planning Approach
The North Carolina wildlife action plan takes a habitat- based approach to addressing the needs of the state’s conservation priority wildlife. The plan gives 371 species statewide priority status for conservation efforts. It categorizes those species with 23 habitat types, such as “beach/dunes”, “floodplain forests”, “bogs and associated wetlands”, or one of 17 river basins in the state. The plan then identifies threats and appropriate conservation actions by habitat type or river basin. The Wildlife Action Plan also includes sections on strategies for urban wildlife management, private lands management, land conservation, and conservation education, outreach, and recreation.
Primary Challenges to North Carolina's Wildlife
North Carolina is located in the rapidly developing southeast. Its population has increased from 5 million people in the 1970s to more than 8 million today. Many of the threats facing species of conservation concern and their habitats are derived from this growth. The challenge is to manage human population growth to minimize those threats.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
