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Audubon North Carolina Announces State’s 92 Important Bird Areas


Audubon North Carolina, the state office of the National Audubon Society, has announced the release of Important Bird Areas of North Carolina, a scientific assessment of the most important habitats for birds in the state. The culmination of six years of study, the publication identifies 92 places from the mountains to the coast that are vital for breeding, migrating, and over-wintering birds. 

The nearly 4.5 million acres of land and waters encompassed by the report range from internationally known natural heritage sites such as 300,000 acres of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to a handful of two-acre islands that are little known but vital to breeding waterbirds.  Manmade features, such as Falls and Jordan lakes, known for their growing populations of Bald Eagles in the midst of developing cities, also made the list.  One Important Bird Area (IBA) includes 600,000 acres of ocean off Cape Hatteras where seabirds congregate and forage in huge numbers. 

“Important Bird Areas have no minimum or maximum size limit,” said Audubon North Carolina Deputy Director Walker Golder, leader of the IBA program in the state.  “What these sites have in common is that all are important and all are essential to North Carolina’s birds.” 

The National Audubon Society is the lead agent for the United States in implementing the global Important Bird Areas (IBA) program. As part of a nationwide initiative and a global partnership to identify and conserve habitats critical to birds, Audubon has initiated IBA programs in 46 states with programs in all 50 states expected in 2005. 

IBAs are identified at a state level by a thorough analysis of bird populations and habitats, then approval by a state IBA Technical Committee, comprising leading experts on birds and their habitats. These areas may hold large concentrations or an exceptional diversity of birds, harbor rare or endangered species, or harbor a representative assemblage of birds associated with rare or threatened habitat. Once approved at a state level, sites can then be reviewed by the National IBA Technical Committee for continental or global IBA status.  

Being named an IBA places no restrictions on property or its future uses.  However, Audubon seeks to work cooperatively with interested landowners and managers to monitor, protect, and improve these sites for birds and other wildlife.  The program dovetails with other natural heritage protection efforts, such as the state’s One North Carolina Naturally initiative. 

“As a voluntary program, the IBA recognition is meant to inspire rather than require,” noted Chris Canfield, Audubon North Carolina’s executive director.  “To inspire greater appreciation of priority landscapes and more sensitive management, to inspire partnerships toward expanded protections and community stewardship.” 

Of the 92 North Carolina locations described and mapped in the report, 68 are in the coastal plain and sandhills, 16 are in the mountains, and 8 lie in between in the Piedmont.  According to Audubon North Carolina, the distribution of sites reflects where expanses of relatively undisturbed or suitable lands exist for concentrations of at-risk, sensitive, or diverse species of birds. 

Over the next three years, Audubon will focus its conservation efforts on a number of priority sites from the coast to the mountains.  These focal IBAs are places where opportunities for acquisition or other protections of vulnerable lands are available, where current management needs improvement, and/or where additional data collection is needed. 

Some IBAs have been targeted for purchase so the sites will forever be protected. The Lea-Hutaff Island complex along the southern coast is one of the last relatively undisturbed barrier islands in the state.  Cooperative efforts to buy-out owners of the island have been ongoing and will be increased, with final ownership being transferred to the state under Audubon’s management. The island supports breeding species such as the threatened Piping Plover, Least and Common terns, American Oystercatchers, and thousands of migrating and wintering shorebirds. 

Other sites, such as the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, seemingly protected as public natural lands, are actually under great threat.  Audubon is currently challenging in federal court an attempt by the US Navy to place a jet landing field just miles away from this prime wintering ground for 100,000 Tundra Swans and Snow Geese. 

One outcome of the IBA process has been the identification of gaps in knowledge of bird numbers across the state.  Audubon, working with other organizations and volunteers, is undertaking additional data gathering at locations thought to be prime bird habitat but insufficiently documented.  The popular Grandfather Mountain has long been known as a place to see birds, such as Northern Saw-whet Owls, Peregrine Falcons, and Red Crossbills.  But scientific methods for monitoring populations were only recently initiated under Audubon’s leadership. 

“Presenting the results of the initial identification phase of the Important Bird Areas program is only a first step. Our assessment of North Carolina’s birds and their habitats is ongoing and we will continue to update the list of IBAs and their conservation needs,” said Golder.  “But the real success will be accomplishing on-the-ground conservation that results in the long-term protection of birds and their habitats. We look forward to working with conservation groups, private landowners, and federal, state, and local governments to make Important Bird Areas of North Carolina the true blueprint for bird conservation in the state.” 

Audubon recently celebrated its 100th anniversary in North Carolina.  With 12,000 members and seven chapters statewide, Audubon North Carolina's mission is to conserve and protect important ecosystems for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and the people of the state.  Audubon carries out that mission through education, direct conservation, and public policy initiatives.  Its system of 19 coastal island sanctuaries provides breeding habitat for tens of thousands of waterbirds from more than 20 species. For more information, and to see the full text of the Important Bird Areas of North Carolina, please visit www.ncaudubon.org or call 910-686-7527. 

 

 

IMPORTANT BIRD AREA

COUNTIES

 

 

 

Coastal Plain

 

 

Alligator River Lowlands

Hyde, Dare

 

Bald Head/ Smith Island

Brunswick, New Hanover

 

Battery Island

Brunswick

 

Beacon Island

Hyde

 

Big Swan Island

Carteret

 

Bigfoot Island

Hyde

 

Bird Island-Twin Lakes

Brunswick

 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Dare, Hyde

 

Cape Lookout National Seashore

Carteret

 

Carrot Island-Bird Shoal

Carteret

 

Cat (Wood) Island

Carteret

 

Cedar Island Marsh

Carteret

 

Chainshot Island

Carteret

 

Chowan River Bottomlands

Hertford, Gates, Chowan, Bertie

 

Clam Shoal

Dare

 

Croatan Forest

Jones, Craven, Carteret

 

Currituck Marshes/Pine Island

Currituck, Dare

 

DOT Island

Hyde

 

Dunahoe Bay

Robeson, Columbus, Bladen

 

Eagle Island

Brunswick

 

Ferry Slip Island

New Hanover

 

Great Dismal Swamp

Camden, Pasquotank, Gates

 

Great Island

Hyde

 

Green Swamp

Brunswick

 

Gull Island

Dare

 

Hobucken Marshes

Pamlico, Beaufort

 

Hog Island

Hyde

 

Holly Shelter-Angola Bay

Pender, Duplin

 

Judith Island Point

Hyde

 

Lake Mattamuskeet-Swanquarter

Hyde

 

Lea-Hutaff Island

Pender

 

Lower Neuse River Bottomlands

Craven, Lenoir, Pitt

 

Lumber River Bottomlands

Robeson, Columbus, Bladen

 

Mackay Island

Currituck

 

Masonboro Island

New Hanover

 

Middle Marsh

Carteret

 

Monkey Island

Currituck

 

Morgan Island

Carteret

 

New Dump Island

Carteret

 

North Pelican Island

New Hanover

 

North Rock Island

Hyde

 

Ocracoke Village Heronry

Hyde

 

Old House Channel, Island C

Dare

 

Old House Channel, Island L

Dare

 

Old House Channel, Island MN

Dare

 

Onslow Bay

N/a

 

Oregon Inlet Shoals

Dare

 

Outer Banks, Inshore Ocean

N/a

 

Outer Continential Shelf, Cape Hatteras

N/a

 

Outer Green Island

Hyde

 

Palmetto Peartree--Buckridge

Tyrell

 

Pea Island

Dare

 

Pocosin Lakes-Pungo

Washington, Hyde, Beaufort, Tyrrell

 

Raccoon Island

Carteret

 

Rawls Island

Dare

 

Roanoke River Bottomlands

Martin, Bertie, Halifax, Washington

 

Roanoke Sound, Island G

Dare

 

Roos Point

Hyde

 

Sand Bag Island

Carteret

 

Sandhills East

Carteret

 

Sandhills West

Hoke, Cumberland, Harnett, Moore

 

Sheep Island

Moore, Scotland, Richmond, Hoke

 

South Pelican Island

Carteret

 

Striking Island

Brunswick

 

Upper Neuse River Bottomlands

Brunswick

 

Waccamaw River Bottomlands

Johnston, Wayne

 

Wainwright Island

Columbus, Brunswick, Bladen

 

Whitehurst Island

Carteret

68

 

 

Piedmont

 

 

B. Everett Jordan Lake

Durham, Wake, Chatham

 

Caswell Game Lands

Caswell

 

Catawba River-Mtn. Island Lake

Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln

 

Eno River Bottomlands

Orange, Durham

 

Falls Lake

Wake, Durham, Granville

 

Pee Dee NWR

Anson, Richmond

 

Pilot Mountain

Surry

 

South Mountains

Burke, Rutherford, Cleveland

8

 

 

Mountains

 

 

Amphibolites

Watauga, Ashe

 

Black & Great Craggy Mountains

Yancey, McDowell, Buncombe, Madison

 

Blue Ridge Escarpment Gorges

Transylvania

 

Bull Creek

Buncombe

 

Bullhead Mtn-Mahogany Rock

Alleghany

 

Chimney Rock-Hickory Nut Gorge

Henderson, Rutherford

 

Grandfather Mountain

Avery, Watauga, Caldwell

 

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Haywood, Swain

 

Highlands Plateau

Macon, Jackson

 

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness Area

Cherokee, Graham

 

Max Patch

Haywood, Madison

 

Nantahala Mountains

Cherokee, Clay, Macon

 

New River Corridor

Ashe, Alleghany

 

Plott and Great Balsam Mountains

Haywood, Jackson

 

Roan Mountain

Mitchell, Avery

 

Stone Mountain-Doughton Park

Alleghany, Wilkes

16

 

 

 

 



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