Agenda 03-19-24; 4-a - Eno-New Hope Landscape Conservation Plan Presentation

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34 The three guild habitat types are often spatially nested on the landscape (for example, as floodplain or riparian areas surrounded by adjacent upland areas) and encompass most of the remaining natural habitat in the project area as well as some managed forests that can support native wildlife populations. Additional localized habitat types are further nested within the three selected habitat types, supporting several additional priority wildlife species. As a result, conserving and maintaining connectivity for the three selected habitats will likely support persistence of several other embedded natural communities and many other wildlife species. Biological and ecological information for species on the final list was compiled from information in Biotics,NatureServe's web-enabled biodiversity information management system(which includes NC- specific data from NCNHP) (NatureServe 2019c),the NC Wildlife Action Plan(NCWRC 2015), and the Fire Effects Information System(FEIS) (Abrahamson nd). Where species-level information was not available,information was compiled for the Element Group(NatureServe 2019d)to which the species belongs. Each Element Group represents species that are related taxonomically, functionally, or by habitat and that have similar habitat needs and movement behaviors. Concepts, parameters, and inputs Resistance-surface-based connectivity modeling, a common approach to GIS-based corridor analysis, involves conceptualizing the landscape as habitat,barriers to movement, and a cost surface (or resistance surface)intended to represent species' ability to move within and between habitat areas on the landscape. Types of habitat can be distinguished and assigned higher or lower movement costs, and the cost distance that species can move on the landscape can be specified,based on knowledge of species' habitat and movement needs,limitations, and behaviors. Potential corridors can be identified and overall landscape connectivity can be assessed from this mapping based on the quantity and arrangement of habitat types and barriers, and the ease, difficulty, or obstruction of movement over the cost surface. Habitat.For this project,we used the concepts of suitable and unsuitable habitat used by NatureServe and the Natural Heritage Network(NatureServe 2019a,b). The landscape was divided into habitat suitable for occupancy(by individuals or populations;suitable habitat),habitat unsuitable for long-term occupancy but suitable for movement(unsuitable habitat), and barriers to movement. Suitable habitat was further divided into habitat patches --contiguous areas of suitable habitat above a size threshold--and smaller fragments of suitable habitat dispersed on the landscape. Habitat patch size thresholds for each guild(Table 2)were determined from information on home range size, daily and seasonal movement behaviors, and habitat characteristics for species or Element Groups as compiled in Biotics(NatureServe 2019c), supplemented by information from FEIS (Abrahamson nd). Where habitat patch size differed for species or Element Groups within guilds,the more limiting(larger)patch size was used. To classify the landscape of the project area into suitable and unsuitable habitat,we used the LANDFIRE 2014 Existing Vegetation Type (EVT)classification(LANDFIRE 2014) as the base land cover layer. Vegetation types representing suitable or unsuitable habitat for species in each guild in the Eastern Piedmont were identified from information in reports by Hall (2008, 2009) and in Biotics(NatureServe 2019c)(Table 2). EVT land cover classes(LANDFIRE 2016)were then matched to these vegetation types. This habitat"crosswalk"was calibrated and validated by Hall's previous mapping of guild habitat for the project area(from finer-resolution aerial photography than that used for the EVT 30 in x 30 in classification) and the locations of guild species occurrences compiled for the project area. The resulting habitat classification was refined and updated using overlays of floodplains from the NC Flood Mapping Program(2017) and wetlands from the National Wetlands Inventory(NWI) (US Fish and Wildlife Service 2017). For instance, in areas mapped as floodplain but incorrectly classified as an upland hardwood forest type(usually because of the relatively coarse scale of the EVT layer),the vegetation type was updated to floodplain hardwood forest. A Landscape Plan for Wildlife Habitat Connectivity 21