MANAGEMENT ACTIONS
Management Action 1:
Bring areas identified as having the highest priority for protection into public ownership and/or management. Expand funding for public acquisition of park lands, gamelands, coastal reserves, and other natural areas.
Management Action 2:
Provide incentives and technical assistance for the protection of privately owned vital habitat.
Object B:
Promote the Responsible Stewardship, Protection, and Conservation of Valuable Natural Areas in the APES Region.
Strategy: Protecting habitats that are vital to the survival of fish and wildlife has been successful in North Carolina. Preserving natural areas also enhances environmental quality and provides socioeconomic benefits. A cooperative effort among many federal and state agencies, private resource and conservation groups, and local land trusts has provided a variety of regulatory and nonregulatory measures that protect habitats. Nonregulatory measures include acquisition, conservation easements, registry and dedication of land as natural areas, technical assistance for conservation, cooperative management agreements and incentives to landowners to maintain, restore, and enhance important natural resources.
Impacts of land acquisition on the local tax base should be considered when preserving natural areas. Stewardship and cost share programs would be expanded with assistance from the Forest Stewardship Program, the Department of Agriculture (DA), USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, and local U.S. Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Public education and technical assistance would be provided to assist public and private landowners with responsible management of natural resources.