North Carolina Sandhills Conservation Partnership

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION CASE STUDY

Restoring the Natural Longleaf Pine-Wiregrass Ecosystem

Location: Southeastern

Project Summary: The Partnership is a cooperative effort to restore the natural longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem on military, state and private lands in the North Carolina Sandhills

Monitoring Red-cockaded Woodpeckers: Data taken includes group size/composition, number of eggs/nestlings and ﬂedgling success. (Photo by Elizabeth J. Evans)

Resource Challenge

The Sandhills lie in the southwestern corner of North Carolina’s inner coastal plain. A region of rolling, sandy hills, it is one of the last places in the southeast where longleaf pine still dominates the landscape. Nationwide, just three percent of what was once longleaf pine ecosystem remains.

Longleaf pine provides key habitat for a variety of species that are endangered, threatened, or of concern; best known is the federally endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Fort Bragg Military Installation has the greatest concentration of the birds in the Sandhills region and is considered the core of the Sandhills recovery population.

In 2000, the Army, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), state agencies, and private conservation groups formed the North Carolina Sandhills Conservation Partnership (NCSCP). They share resources to:

Coordinate public and private land protection and management programs in the Sandhills to beneﬁ t the longleaf pine ecosystem, emphasizing Red-Cockaded Woodpecker recovery.
Identify resource and land use priorities.
Develop resource protection and management strategies to meet conservation goals.
Address the growing frequency of incompatible land uses on private lands adjacent to public land.
Support military readiness at Fort Bragg.

Examples of Key Partners

U.S. Army Fort Bragg, U.S. Army Environmental Center, Aberdeen, MD, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, The Nature Conservancy, Sandhills Area Land Trust, and Sandhills Ecological Institute.

Results and Accomplishments

To date, the Partnership has:

Conserved 9,045 acres of land either through fee simple purchase or long-term conservation easements.
Added nineteen Red-Cockaded Woodpecker groups to the Sandhills primary recovery population.
Used permanent conservation interests and new agreements with state partners to voluntarily manage their lands at federal recovery standards.
Created a regional database for biologists who are cataloguing elements unique to this environment.
Implemented the Federal Safe Harbors Program, making voluntary agreements with landowners that encourage them to manage for Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. In exchange, landowners are assured that they will not be subject to further regulation if they are successful in restoring the species.

Innovation/Highlight

One of the ﬁrst partnerships between U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), non-governmental organizations NGO), and state and local government partners to focus speciﬁcally on military land.

Project Contact

Mr. Rick Studenmund
Sandhills Project Director
The Nature Conservancy

,
910-246-0300
rstudenmund@tnc.org

Mr. Terry Myers
Directorate of Public Works
Department of the Army
Fort Bragg

910-396-2510
terry.myers1@conus.army.mil

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