Description: The Red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) Potential Habitat dataset is a polyline layer depicting high and low potential habitat locations for Harperella in NC counties that have a USFWS "current" status listing. Red-cockaded woodpecker, (Picoides borealis) typically occupies open, mature stands of southern pines, particularly longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), for foraging and nesting/roosting habitat. The RCW excavates cavities for nesting and roosting in living pine trees, aged 60 years or older, which are contiguous with pine stands at least 30 years of age to provide foraging habitat. The foraging range of the RCW is normally no more than 0.5 miles. They are currently found in the sandhills and piedmont ecoregions, as well as coastal communities where old growth pines are prevalent. Longleaf pine is the preferred species for nesting, while loblolly, shortleaf, slash and pond pines are also used dependent on availability. There is a total of 347 element occurrences (EO’s) tracked by NCNHP within the piedmont and coastal regions of North Carolina: 95 current occurrences; 251 historic occurrences; and one obscure record occurring just south of other Sandhill Game Land occurrences in Scotland County. County Information-• As of September 2021, IPAC ECOS contains 35 counties, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chatham, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Gates, Greene, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Tyrrell, Wake, Washington, and Wayne. • As of July 2021, historic counties are no longer tracked by USFWS but were modeled at the start of the modeling process. • As of April 2021, NHP and FWS listed 45 counties which are included in the modeling process. Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chatham, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Pitt, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Tyrrell, Wake, Washington, Wayne, and Wilson. • Edgecombe, Halifax, Lee, Lenoir, Montgomery, Nash, Northampton, Orange, Pitt and Wilson are not currently identified in IPAC but initially modeled and are available in needed. For more information please click here https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/gisdot/AtlasMetadata/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.
Copyright Text: The Environmental Analysis Unit (EAU) Mitigation and Modeling Unit within NCDOT was tasked to create this dataset. This dataset supports the production of the Natural Resources Technical Report (NRTR). Annual maintenance of this dataset is handled by the EAU.
Support and maintenance of the enterprise spatial database where this data resides is handled by NCDIT's Transportation GIS Unit.