Data Management Plan

This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for horses and federally and/or state endangered, threatened, or rare small mammals. Vector polygons in this dataset represent vulnerable occurrences and general distribution. Species-specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information are stored in associated data tables (described below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. This data set is a portion of the ESI data for North Carolina. As a whole, the ESI data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil, and include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources.

This reflects the extent of all land and water features included in the overall North Carolina ESI study region. The bounding box for this particular feature class may vary depending on occurrences identified and mapped.

Process Steps:

• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - The terrestrial mammals are limited to rare coastal and special status species. These are: Buxton Woods white-footed deer mouse (state special concern, federal species of concern), Florida eastern woodrat (state threatened), Pungo white-footed deer mouse (state special concern), star-nosed mole (state special concern), and Dismal Swamp southern bog lemming (state significantly rare). The deer mice are localized subspecies that live in dunes along North Carolina\x92s barrier islands. The woodrat uses moist hardwood forests in the southeastern Coastal Plain. The bog lemming can be found in open wetland habitat such as damp fields and marsh edges. The star-nosed mole is semi-aquatic and is found in wetland habitats such as swamps, bogs, and marshes. Digital polygon data from NC NHP were used to map rare and special status terrestrial mammals. Historical and very low accuracy locations were not mapped. Non-native, feral horses known as Banker ponies or horses occur along the barrier islands of North Carolina. The largest of these herds is found on Shackleford Banks (SB), the southern-most barrier island in Cape Lookout National Seashore, and a smaller herd occurs nearby on the Rachel Carson Reserve (RCR). These herds are managed as part of the cultural landscape, having descended from colonial Spanish horses brought to the islands centuries ago (SB) as well as more recent releases (RCR). They are protected by federal (SB) and state and local (RCR) laws. The general distributions of these herds were reviewed by NPS and NC Coastal Reserve personnel. There are several rare and listed bat species that are present within the atlas area. These species are; northern long-eared bat (state significantly rare, federally threatened), Rafinesque\x92s big-eared bat (state special concern and federal species of concern), southeastern bat (state special concern and federal species of concern), northern yellow bat (state special concern), little brown bat (state significantly rare), tricolored bat (state significantly rare). Bats in North Carolina have been devastated by white-nose syndrome, the primary threat to bats in this area. While these species may not be directly impacted by an oil spill, human disturbance to roosts and hibernation areas is considered a secondary threat. There was not enough data to adequately map the distribution of rare bats in the North Carolina coastal plain. Known roosts and hibernacula occur predominantly in the mountains and none are shown in this AOI. The contact information for the regional bat expert has been included in the table below. Semi-aquatic furbearing mammals live in coastal wetland habitats vulnerable to oil spills. Mink and northern river otter are broadly distributed in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. Beaver and muskrat are also widespread throughout the river systems, although muskrats are rare in southeastern North Carolina coastal areas. Due to their broad distribution and lack of specific concentration areas, these species were not mapped. See the Lineage section for additional information on the type of source data for this data layer. The ESI, biology, and human-use data are compiled into the standard ESI digital data format. A second set of interviews with participating resource experts are conducted to review the compiled data. If necessary, edits to the T_MAMMAL data layer are made based on the recommendations of the resource experts and digital data are created.

Data can be accessed by downloading the zipped ArcGIS geodatabase from the Download URL (see Distribution Information). Questions can be directed to the ESI Program Manager (Point Of Contact).