Dry Coniferous Woodlands
The 2015 North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan defines 41 priority habitats for the state. More information about this habitat can be found in Section 4.4.10.
Contents
Habitat Priorities
Surveys
- Determine the current baseline distribution and status of species mainly associated with dry coniferous forest (especially those that are state-listed or believed to be declining). Data is most severely lacking for reptiles, small mammals, and nocturnal birds. (Surveys Priority)
- Survey White Pine forest for breeding birds and other fauna. This habitat might now be utilized by species that formerly occurred in Canada Hemlock stands that have now shifted to White Pine habitats. (Surveys Priority)
Monitoring
- Establish long-term monitoring efforts for small mammals and reptiles in the habitat. Monitoring protocols and procedures need to be developed or refined that will allow us to measure population trends of the priority wildlife species, as well as the health and distribution of this relatively rare habitat through time.
- Enhance current monitoring systems and protocols (e.g., MAPS and BBS) to better cover species not well covered by current monitoring efforts.
Research
- Continue research on topics including efficient and effective means to manage and improve the quality and quantity of dry coniferous forest, with a particular eye toward techniques that are applicable in our developing landscape (e.g., in the absence of fire, either as a natural event or as a management tool, what other means might be available to sustain this habitat across the landscape?).
- Research how the loss of hemlock affects salamander habitat use and microclimate.
Management Practices
- Determine impacts of prescribed fire on these communities and the resulting effects on wildlife communities.
- Develop logistically and economically effective control strategies for controlling outbreaks of the most damaging insect pests and diseases.
- Regulate human activities on steep slopes that may cause excessive erosion or mud slides, and develop and implement BMPs to mitigate erosion.
Conservation Programs and Partnerships
Description
The vast majority of land in the Piedmont and Mountain ecoregions is dominated by hardwood forests. Less common are dry coniferous forests, which occur at middle to lower elevations in several kinds of specialized sites that are drier than most environments. They occur primarily in the Mountains and are found in a few mountain-like sites in the Piedmont. Piedmont Longleaf Pine forests, although dominated by coniferous trees, are included with the more closely related dry Longleaf Pine forests ecosystem group rather than here. There are four community types associated with this ecosystem: pine–oak/ heath, Carolina Hemlock bluffs, White Pine forests, and montane Red Cedar hardwood woodlands.
- The pine–oak/heath community occurs on sharp ridge tops and spur ridges, where shallow soils and exposure to drying winds and lightning prevent development of a closed hardwood forest. Extremely acidic soils, created by leaching and by the acidity of plant leaf litter, may also be a factor. The canopy, typically composed of Pitch, Table Mountain, and/or Virginia pines, is generally open with a dense, tall shrub layer dominated by Mountain Laurel or rhododendron occurring beneath the canopy. Herbs are few and sparse, but characteristic acid-loving species often occur in openings among the shrubs.
- Carolina Hemlock bluffs occur in settings similar to pine–oak/heath, but usually more on steep bluff-like side slopes. Carolina Hemlock dominates the canopy with a shrub and herb layer similar to pine–oak/heath but possibly more open.
- White pine forests are poorly understood communities. While White Pine is a common successional tree in mountain hardwood forests, natural forests of it most typically occur on the walls of steep gorges.
- Montane red cedar-hardwood woodland occurs on shallow soils on gentle slopes. Smooth rock outcrops are usually found in association with it. These woodlands have an open canopy with patchy shrubs and grassy openings. A number of the species suggest that the soils are less acidic than typical mountain soils.
Dry coniferous woodlands of the Piedmont and Mountain ecoregions are described as priority habitats in the 2005 WAP (see Chapter 5) (NCWRC 2005).
Location of Habitat
These communities occur through the lower to middle elevations, the foothills, and are particularly abundant in the escarpment in the Mountain ecoregion. Pilot Mountain, Hanging Rock, and Crowders Mountain State Parks all have examples of the pine–oak/ heath community. Owing to the relatively low-elevations occupied by dry coniferous forests in the region, significant amounts of this habitat occur in western North Carolina upon state-owned lands (Thurmond Chatham, South Mountains, and Green River Game Lands; South Mountains State Park; Dupont State Forest).
Problems Affecting Habitats
Most dry coniferous woodlands depend on a combination of fire behavior and dry soils, both driven by topography. However, an increase in extreme fires may be detrimental. Increased drought may increase southern pine beetle outbreaks, a major threat to the pine canopy. Fire suppression has caused these habitats to shrink in recent decades. Increased drought may favor pines over hardwoods and allow them to regain some of their lost area even without fire. Increased drought and fire may allow expansion. These communities occur in the driest mountain and foothill sites, and increasingly dry climate may allow them to expand into a broader range of topography and to higher elevations.
The structural effects caused by fire suppression and southern pine beetles greatly exceed any effect likely from climate change. The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid has already impacted some stands of Carolina Hemlock, though not to the devastating effect as seen in Canada Hemlock stands. Restoration of the structure, composition, and, most importantly, disturbance regimes of these communities will increase their resilience to environmental stressors. Without fire to promote pine regeneration, increased Pine Beetle mortality could hasten the shift from pines to hardwoods.
Warmer temperatures should allow spreading to higher elevation, but the acreage gain is likely to be limited. It may not occur if fires are suppressed. Increased wind damage may increase loss of mature pines and contribute to ongoing encroachment of hardwoods. Because the characteristic plants are drought tolerant as well as fire tolerant, an increase in drought may help them retain or regain dominance. In addition, if drought contributes to an increase in wildfire, this may benefit these communities.
Climate Change Compared to Other Threats
The most significant threats vary among the different community types. Piedmont and mountain dry coniferous forests will likely be resilient to the effects of climate change and may actually benefit from increased fire frequency and drought. Lack of fire is the greatest threat to the majority of remaining pine–oak/heath. Not only will these forests not be able to reproduce themselves without fire, but those stands at higher elevations which are not regularly burned often develop dense Mountain Laurel/rhododendron understories that shade out other shrubs and herbaceous plants, thus lowering the habitat quality and diversity of wildlife which could utilize the area. Management efforts by multiple agencies to increase prescribed fire in fire adapted communities, including dry coniferous forests, are already positioning these communities for greater resilience.
Impacts to Wildlife
While Red-cockaded Woodpeckers are almost exclusively associated with Longleaf Pine systems, most animals that are associated with pines and other dry conifers also occur in mixed stands of hardwoods and conifers. Brown-headed Nuthatches and Chuck-willswidows are also associated with dry woodlands and/or heathlands more generally.
Additional problems faced by individual species associated with dry coniferous forest include the lack of early successional habitat of this type or conversion of this habitat to other pine habitat (i.e., White Pine) for species such as Prairie Warblers, woodpeckers, and nuthatches. Timber Rattlesnake persecution in these habitats also remains a significant problem. Lack of management of the stands decreases the quality of habitat for woodland hawks by decreasing prey abundance and limiting their ability to hunt in dense understory growth.
The two species of moths that feed on Bear Oak have a highly confined distribution in North Carolina (as does their host plant). While climate change may create conditions such as increased fire that may favor the oak, the moths are likely to be highly vulnerable to extirpation if fires completely consume all available habitat in the few areas where the moth currently exists.