VOLUME 16 // ISSUE 2 summer 2016
NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST
COASTLINES What is a Global Biodiversity Hotspot? The designation Global Biodiversity Hotspot is given only to regions on Earth with at least 1500 endemic species of plants and greater than 70% loss of habitat. Together, these 36 hotspots comprise just 2.3% of the Earth’s land surface, but they support more than half of the world’s native plant species and almost half of native birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Applying the scientists’ rigorous criteria, a wide swath of our own continent’s coastal plain – stretching from Cape Cod south to the Florida Keys and west to Tamaulipas, Mexico – is among the most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life on Earth, and joins 35 other global hotspots. Many of the other global hotspots are in exotic and faraway places – the Himalayas, Madagascar, and the Andes, for example. But sometimes something precious is “right under your nose, but goes unnoticed,” said Dr. Reed Noss of the University of Central Florida, writing for the scientists who announced the new Hotspot.
Photo by Stuart R. Borrett
Surprise!!! Our coast is a GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT! By Camilla Herlevich Director, North Carolina Coastal Land Trust
W
ilmington Mayor Bill Saffo recently issued a proclamation celebrating the news that the North American Coastal Plain was recognized by a consortium of international scientists as a “Global Biodiversity Hotspot,” one of only 36 such areas on the entire planet. These are places that are both biologically
rich – and deeply threatened. “This designation means a great deal to the City of Wilmington. We are keenly aware of the importance of this ecosystem and are pleased to partner with the Coastal Land Trust to protect the Venus Flytraps and other carnivorous plants at Wilmington’s own Piney Ridge Nature Preserve,” said Mayor Saffo. It’s not just the Mayor of the City of Wilmington who is excited by the news.
Wild about the Waccamaw!
Intern Ashley Gordon explores the Waccamaw River by canoe.
“We’ve always known that nature here at the coast is rich, beautiful, and wonderful,” said Camilla Herlevich, Executive Director of the Coastal Land Trust. ”Recognition of our focus region as a new Global Biodiversity Hotspot has really energized the Coastal Land Trust’s staff and volunteers. As one of the top five land conservation groups in the United States working in this region, we’re going to kick it up a notch to raise even more money and save even more land.”
T
he Coastal Land Trust is wild about the Waccamaw River. It is one of North Carolina’s most remote, most beautiful, and most ecologically significant rivers. Its water chemistry and geology are quite rare on the coast; as a result, many of the plants and animals that flourish in, and along, the Waccamaw are found nowhere else on earth. Namesake creatures like the Waccamaw spike and Waccamaw fatmucket (freshwater mollusks) can be found on the river bottom filtering water and siphoning microscopic food while the Waccamaw killifish and Waccamaw silverside fish dart through the clear waters of Lake Waccamaw occasionally swimming downriver. On land, colorful songbirds such as Black-Throated Green and Prothonotary Warblers flit through the canopy while river otters play among the tangled tree roots below. It is a wild place, and one to be wild about conserving. The Coastal Land Trust recently acquired another property along the Waccamaw River. On May 27, 2016, the Coastal Land Trust purchased 669 acres in Columbus County which is contiguous and downstream of another 671 acres acquired in 2014. These two parcels comprise our new 1,300-acre WACCAMAW, continued on page 5
www.CoastalLandTrust.org
PAGE 1