The Piping plover Potential Habitat dataset is a polygon layer depicting high and low potential habitat locations for Piping plover in NC counties that have a USFWS "current" status listing.

Primary constituent elements of wintering Piping plover (Charadrius melodus) habitat include sand and/or mud flats with no or very sparse emergent vegetation. In some cases, these flats may be covered or partially covered by a mat of blue-green algae. Adjacent unvegetated or sparsely vegetated sand, mud, or algal flats above high tide are also essential, especially for roosting piping plovers. Such sites may have debris, detritus (decaying organic matter), or micro-topographic relief (less than 20 inches above substrate surface) offering refuge from high winds and cold weather. Essential components of the beach/dune ecosystem include surf-cast algae for feeding of prey, sparsely vegetated back beach (beach area above mean high tide seaward of the dune line, or in cases where no dunes exist, seaward of a delineating feature such as a vegetation line, structure or road) for roosting and refuge during storms, spits (a small point of land, especially sand, running into water) for feeding and roosting, salterns (bare sand flats in the center of mangrove ecosystems that are found above mean high waters and are only irregularly flushed with sea water) and wash over areas for feeding and roosting. Wash over areas are broad, unvegetated zones with little or no topographic relief that are formed and maintained by the action of hurricanes, storm surge, or other extreme wave action. Several of these components (sparse vegetation, little or no topographic relief) are mimicked in artificial habitat types used less commonly by piping plovers, but that are considered critical habitat (e.g., dredge spoil sites).

The Piping plover breeds along the entire eastern coast of the United States. North Carolina is uniquely positioned in the species’ range, being the only state where the Piping plover’s breeding and wintering ranges overlap, and the birds are present year-round. They nest most commonly where there is little or no vegetation, but some may nest in stands of beach grass. The nest is a shallow depression in the sand that is usually lined with shell fragments and light-colored pebbles.

National Heritage Program (NHP) Tier 2 data from June 2022 indicate 36 NHP Element Occurrences (EOs) for Piping plover. 12 of the 34 records are historic. NHP records used at the time of model were from June 2022.

County Information

• NHP listed counties: Brunswick, Carteret, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender

• FWS listed counties as 'current': Brunswick, Carteret, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender

• Additions proposed by reviewers: NA

For more information please click here https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/gisdot/Metadata/Atlas/TechDocs/

Datasets developed under Project ATLAS do not replace any NRTR work for future projects and may not be used as a replacement for site visits / field surveys by qualified professionals and hence should be used only as a supporting platform for decision making. Use of this dataset for project scoping or screening is merely pre-decisional.