Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain: an Ecoregional Assessment
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TThhee UUppppeerr EEaasstt GGuullff CCooaassttaall PPllaaiinn AAnn EEccoorreeggiioonnaall AAsssseessssmmeenntt “We never had a thought of exchanging our land for any others, as we think that we would not find a country that would suit us as well as this we now occupy, it being the land of our forefathers, if we should exchange our lands for any other, fearing the consequences may be similar to transplanting an old tree, which would wither and die away, and we are fearful we would come to the same.” Levi Colbert (Itte-wamba Mingo), on behalf of the Chickasaw nation, October 24, 1826, (these comments were submitted to the federal government during negotiations to move the Chickasaws out of the ecoregion into Oklahoma). Citation: The Nature Conservancy & NatureServe, 2003. The Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain: An Ecoregional Assessment. The Nature Conservancy is a non-profit organization with the mission to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. NatureServe is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the scientific knowledge that forms the basis for effective conservation action. NatureServe represents a network of 75 member programs – local natural heritage programs and conservation data centers across the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. AAcckknnoowwlleeddggmmeennttss The successful completion of this assessment was made possible by the dedicated effort, expertise, and support of numerous individuals and programs. The Nature Conservancy acknowledges the contributions of the experts consulted during this planning effort. Their assistance and extensive knowledge of the planning area and conservation targets was invaluable throughout the process. These individuals are listed below. Special thanks are due to Natural Heritage programs. Programs in each state provided critical data and expertise through nearly every stage of the process. In addition to the individuals listed below and their supporting institutions, sincere appreciation is given to the following programs: Mississippi Natural Heritage Program, Jackson, MS Alabama Natural Heritage Program, Montgomery AL Illinois Natural Heritage Division/Illinois Natural Heritage Database Program, Springfield, IL Tennessee Natural Heritage Program, Nashville, TN Kentucky Natural Heritage Program, Frankfort, KY Georgia Natural Heritage Program, Social Circle, GA Louisiana Natural Heritage Program, Baton Rouge, LA Jon Ambrose (Georgia Natural Heritage Program) Chris Oberholster (TNC Alabama Chapter) Julian Campbell (TNC Kentucky Chapter) John Prince (TNC Southeast Division) Marc Evans (Kentucky Natural Heritage Program) Milo Pyne (NatureServe – formerly called Rob Evans (NatureServe– formerly with TNC Association for Biodiversity Information) Southeast Conservation Science) Al Schotz (Alabama Natural Heritage Program) Troy Ettel (formerly TN Natural Heritage Program) Peggy Shute (Tennessee Valley Authority Heritage Bob Ford (Division of Bird Habitat Conservation, US Program) Fish and Wildlife Service) Ryan Smith (TNC Southcentral Division, formerly Paul Freeman (TNC Southeast Division) TNC Freshwater Initiative) Jim Godwin (Alabama Natural Heritage Program) Eric Soehren (Alabama State Lands Natural Tom Greene (TNC Ft. Benning Office) Heritage Section) Mark Guetersloh (Illinois Department of Natural Jeff Sole (TNC Kentucky Chapter) Resources) Rob Sutter (TNC Southeast Division) Barry Hart (Alabama Natural Heritage Program) Chris Szell (TNC Southeast Division) Matt Hicks (TNC Mississippi Chapter) Kimberly Wheaton (formerly TNC Southeast Shannon Horn (TNC Illinois Chapter) Conservation Science) Donna Lohr (formerly TNC Southeast Conservation Ron Wieland (Mississippi Natural Heritage Science) Program) Tom Mann (Mississippi Natural Heritage Program) Mark Woodrey (Mississippi State Univ., Coastal Matthew Miller (TNC Mississippi Chapter) Research and Extension Center, Grand Bay Carl Nordman (NatureServe– formerly called National Estuarine Research Reserve Association for Biodiversity Information) Alex Wyss (TNC West TN Program) The Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain: An Ecoregional Assessment i EExxeeccuuttiivvee SSuummmmaarryy This document describes the process and results of an ecoregional assessment for the Upper East Gulf Chapter 5, “Conservation Goals”, outlines the steps Coastal Plain. The goal of this assessment was to teams followed to establish numeric goals for each implement the first step in The Nature target, and how these goals were allocated across Conservancy’s conservation approach by the ecoregion. identifying areas of biodiversity significance in the ecoregion and thereby setting the stage for their Chapter 6, “Mapping The Conservation Portfolio”, conservation. This document provides a brief describes the methods for representing areas of background on TNC’s approach to conservation biodiversity significance and assembling them into a planning, and provides an ecological and human comprehensive conservation portfolio. context for the Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain ecoregion. Chapter 7, “Meeting Conservation Goals”, summarizes the portfolio sites, progress toward The document also outlines the specific steps established conservation goals, and general data followed in developing this assessment. A suite of gaps. conservation targets representative of the ecoregion’s biodiversity were selected that, when Chapter 8, “Taking Conservation Action”, describes assembled together, represent a first iteration two of the more pervasive threats to biodiversity in “portfolio” of places where conservation efforts are this ecoregion, and discusses the process used to needed in the ecoregion. This document identifies select TNC’s first priority sites for conservation these conservation targets and outlines numeric action. goals established for each. It documents the resulting portfolio map, for aquatic and terrestrial conservation efforts. In addition, it discusses efforts to prioritize TNC conservation actions within the portfolio. Finally, data gaps identified during the evaluation process are discussed. Document Organization The chapters in this document reflect different components of this assessment. The following gives an overview of each chapter: Chapter 1, “Conservation Planning Background”, provides an overview of ecoregions, and TNC’s conservation approach, as well as the project goals for this assessment. Chapter 2, Understanding the Ecoregion”, provides ecological and human context and background for the Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain Ecoregion. Chapter 3, “Stratifying the ecoregion”, describes the need for doing so, and summarizes the units used for terrestrial and aquatic stratification. Chapter 4, “Conservation Targets”, provides background on biological scales and patterns and discusses the specific targets selected for use in this assessment. The Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain: An Ecoregional Assessment ii TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss Document Organization ____________________________________________________ ii CHAPTER 1: Conservation Planning Background _______________________ 1 What Are Ecoregions? _____________________________________________________ 1 TNC Conservation Planning _________________________________________________ 1 TNC’s Conservation Approach ______________________________________________ 2 East Gulf Assessment _____________________________________________________ 2 Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain Approach ______________________________________ 2 Project Goals and Objectives ________________________________________________ 3 CHAPTER 2: Understanding the Ecoregion ____________________________ 4 Ecological Context ________________________________________________________ 4 Geology ________________________________________________________________ 4 Soils ___________________________________________________________________ 5 Aquatic Overview _________________________________________________________ 5 Vegetation Overview ______________________________________________________ 6 Human Context ___________________________________________________________ 7 Cultural History ___________________________________________________________ 7 Key stakeholders. _________________________________________________________ 7 Human Population and Development _________________________________________ 8 Land Use Patterns ________________________________________________________ 8 CHAPTER 3: Stratifying the Ecoregion _______________________________ 10 Stratification Units _______________________________________________________ 10 Aquatic stratification ______________________________________________________ 10 Terrestrial stratification ____________________________________________________ 10 CHAPTER 4: Conservation Targets __________________________________ 12 Biological Scales and Patterns _____________________________________________ 12 Terrestrial Targets ________________________________________________________ 12 Terrestrial Ecological Systems ______________________________________________ 12 Terrestrial Species _______________________________________________________ 13 Wide-ranging Species ____________________________________________________ 13 Aquatic Targets __________________________________________________________ 14 Aquatic Ecological Systems ________________________________________________ 14 Aquatic Species _________________________________________________________ 14 CHAPTER 5: Conservation Goals ___________________________________