Conservation
NC's Rare Plants
From the mountains to the sea, North Carolina is one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse states in the southeast. This diversity is exhibited by the over 4000 native species of plants found throughout the Tar Heel State.
Without intervention, however, North Carolina's natural world may soon suffer of plant species loss.
- One in seven plant species in the state is rare -- totaling over 700 species.
- 132 of these species are listed as threatened or endangered, but only half of the sites where they occur are protected.
- 26 federally endangered or threatened plants grow in North Carolina.
Plant species may be rare for many reasons:
- Some plants are naturally rare because they occur only in specialized site conditions (e.g. rock outcrops or seepage bogs)
- Many species are rare because they occur in natural systems that, historically, have been lost due to conversion of the land to other uses (e.g. agriculture or urban development)
- More species are rare because the natural processes on which they are dependent have been removed from their habitats (e.g. through fire suppression or wetland drainage)
About 75% of the endangered and threatened species in North Carolina require a regular fire regime to reproduce and thrive. An example is the Venus Flytrap. Found only in the Carolinas, this carnivorous plant thrives most when its habitat is burned approximately every 3 years. If the fire return cycle is lengthened and fires are suppressed, Venus Flytrap can be completely lost from a site.
NC Plant Conservation Program
With the passage of the Plant Protection and Conservation Act in 1979, the State of North Carolina established the NC Plant Conservation Program in the Department of Agriculture.
The Program's responsibilities include:
- Maintaining the list of Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern plant species NC Plant Species Listings (Courtesy of the NC Plant Conservation Program)
- Enforcing regulations and issuing permits concerning state-listed plant species.
- Carrying out field projects in biology, monitoring, and management of populations of listed species.
- Providing educational materials to the public.
- Monitoring trade in American ginseng.
To do all of this, the NC Plant Conservation Program has only one state-funded position. An additional 1.5 position is funded on a year-to-year basis by federal grants. Efforts are underway to ensure that the Program gets the additional staff it needs in order to fulfill its mandate.
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