The 2015 North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan defines 41 priority habitats for the state. More information about this habitat can be found in Section 4.4.15.

Habitat Priorities

Surveys

Surveys are needed to document the distribution, relative abundance and status of wildlife species associated with these beach/dune habitats. Priorities for conducting surveys need to focus on species believed to be declining, at risk, or mainly dependent on these communities. (Surveys Priority)
Secondary priority for surveys should be for species for which current distribution information is already available or for species that are considered common. (Surveys Priority)
Conduct shorebird surveys throughout the year to better understand population fluctuations for breeding, wintering, and migratory birds (especially Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, and Wilson's Plover). (Surveys Priority)
Determine distribution and status of wintering shorebirds (Sprandel et al. 2000). (Surveys Priority)

Monitoring

Continue support for regular colonial waterbird surveys (currently conducted coast-wide roughly every three years).
Continue sea turtle nest and stranding monitoring.
Monitor introduced nonnative species effects (especially plants and invertebrates) on native coastal wildlife, including sea turtles.
Monitor status and reproductive success of Gull-billed Terns, Common Terns, Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Piping Plovers, and Caspian Terns.
Determine seasonal numbers and distribution of shorebirds (Dinsmore et al. 1998).

Research

Identify causal factors responsible for low beach-nesting bird reproductive success; initiate predator impact studies (e.g., ghost crabs, Fire Ants, gulls, foxes, Raccoons, feral cats, etc.) (Wolcott and Wolcott 1999).
Experiment more with creation of overwash fans or ephemeral ponds for nesting or foraging birds.
Continue sea turtle DNA research to better determine nesting habits and needs.
Work with owners and managers of buildings containing nesting least terns to increase reproductive success while allowing owners/managers to maintain good public relations.

Management Practices

Although protected by law in North Carolina, feral horse herds should be restricted from some areas where they currently roam free. Such restriction would be particularly beneficial at Shackleford Banks and Currictuck National Wildlife Refuge (Porter et al. 2014). Fence off portions of barrier islands where feral horses still occur to allow recovery of maritime grassland communities.
Where sand supply is abundant and substrate is appropriate, restore overwash processes that carry sand from the seaward to the landward side of an island and may allow landward migration and improve prospects for survival.
Collect seeds of the rarest plant species associated with maritime grasslands (especially annual species) to protect genetic diversity and maintain a source of local material that can be used to reestablish populations if species are extirpated or severely impacted within North Carolina.
Control predators (not limited to exotic species) through education efforts, trapping, or other means to increase sea turtle and beach-nesting bird reproductive success.
Make efforts to address beach lighting, sand fencing, sand pushing, and beach stabilization issues so that sea turtles have a better chance for nesting success.
Continue the use of bird decoys and sound broadcasts to attract colonial nesting birds to better nesting sites.
Continue coordination to influence where dredged material is placed to be most beneficial/least detrimental to beach-nesting birds, foraging shorebirds, and sea turtles.
Reduce disturbance from off-road vehicles, people, and their pets on coastal beach and dune systems. Continued support for and enhanced coordination among coastal management agencies regarding existing restrictions and programs aimed at regulating beach activities is also critical.

Conservation Programs and Partnerships

Description

Maritime grasslands all occur along the coast and are unable to support trees because of heavy salt spray or overwash by saltwater during storms. This community includes four types: dune grass, maritime dry grassland, maritime wet grassland, and upper beach.

Dune grass communities occur on the line of foredunes just behind the active beach and on unstable sand dunes farther back on barrier islands. The loose, shifting sand with its low water holding capacity and low nutrient reserves makes these environments habitable by only a handful of specialized plant species. Sea oats grass is the dominant plant in most examples, with American beach grass dominating examples in the northern part of the state. Artificial dune stabilization by planting of grasses or placing snow fences modifies the natural dune structure and dynamics. The higher, more continuous artificial dunes are more susceptible to erosion on the front because there are no passages through which seawater can wash.
Maritime dry grassland communities occur on more stable sands in the interior of barrier islands. They may be on low, stable, old dunes, but are most typically found on sandy flats on low islands that lack continuous foredunes. Seawater overwashes the low islands during severe storms and kills any invading woody vegetation. The characteristic dominant grass in these communities is saltmeadow cordgrass, though Seaside Little Bluestem occurs in a few examples, and overall plant diversity is fairly low.
Maritime wet grasslands may occur on low sand flats or in dune swales at the water table level and are resilient to salt spray and overwash. Some examples may even be flooded for substantial periods. Saltmeadow cordgrass is generally dominant but a great diversity of other species is present.
The upper beach type is not technically a grassland, but is closely related to the other community types. It occurs above the mean high tide line behind the intertidal beach. The environment is very harsh for plants, with almost constant salt spray and with periodic flooding and reworking of sand during storms. A handful of mostly annual, salt-tolerant herbs occur as sparse patches and scattered individuals on the sand. Small mounds of sand may develop around the few perennial plants, such as sea oats and marsh elder, forming the beginnings of dunes.

The 2005 WAP describes the mid-atlantic Coastal Plain beach/dune community as a priority habitat (see Chapter 5) (NCWRC 2005).

Location of Habitat

Maritime grasslands are located in the Coastal Plain ecoregion on barrier islands and Atlantic Ocean shore areas.

Problems Affecting Habitats

These communities are well adapted to overwash and this may or may not be harmful to them. It may reverse the artificial exclusion of overwash that has altered some examples, such as those on parts of Bodie and Hatteras islands and the Currituck Banks. Overwash is important for transporting sand to the back of barrier islands, allowing them to migrate landward with rising sea level. Increased erosion of foredunes and possible disappearance of whole barrier islands will substantially reduce acreage.

This group will likely shrink drastically in the near future. The most extensive examples occur on narrow barrier islands which are most likely to disappear or be substantially altered by erosion. Examples should survive where barrier islands are able to migrate. Examples should survive on larger, more stable, higher islands, and may migrate to higher elevations or expand there at the expense of maritime upland forest and maritime wetland forest. Much of the narrower part of the Outer Banks could disappear entirely (Riggs 2010). With the loss of area will come increased fragmentation, which is already a problem in smaller examples that are isolated by developed areas.

Barrier islands can be expected to migrate landward, if allowed to, and could survive if sea level does not rise too rapidly. The wider, more stable, and generally higher parts of barrier islands are likely to remain. Grassland communities will also shift and change as the result of increased storm activity and its associated erosion, increased salt spray, overwash, and saltwater intrusion. Increased coastal erosion may breach the foredunes, allowing overwash, which can offset the effects of artificial barriers (e.g., sand fencing and plantings) installed to alter the structure of dune grass communities.

Increased natural disturbance and milder temperatures can be expected to change composition. Species native to comparable communities farther south may be able to migrate in. Because the harsh physical environment already limits species present, and because the expected changes on surviving islands are mostly increases in processes already active, the degree of compositional change is expected to be limited in most of these communities. Structural changes may be more significant. However the wet grasslands in particular may be more drastically affected. New exotic species may appear or become invasive in the warmer climate, though none are specifically known. Mild winters may allow new exotic species to invade, or may allow more natural compositional change that will be locally substantial but may be negligible over larger areas.

Climate Change Compared to Other Threats

Comparing climate change to other ecosystem threats can help define shortand long-term conservation actions and recommendations. While the climate is expected to be warmer, and rainfall change estimates vary widely, the most important effects on these systems will be rising sea level and an increase in storms. Table 4.40 summarizes the comparison of climate change with other existing threats.

Impacts to Wildlife

A genetic study of the Crystal Skipper (Atrytonopsis n. sp. 1) indicated that its population is subdivided into three distinct groups, one at Fort Macon and nearby dredged-material island, one at Emerald Isle, and one at Bear Island. These findings indicate that dispersal may be fairly infrequent across ocean inlets as well as wide strips of maritime forest and development. The Seaside Dusted Skipper is one of the rarest species in the state. Even if it turns out to be an isolated population of the Loammi Skipper, that species is also highly threatened and currently only known to exist in Florida. The Fort Macon population of a moth (Faronta aleada) in the Noctuidae family appears to be associated with the same habitat as the Crystal Skipper, but not necessarily Seaside Little Bluestem. Sea level rise may have an effect through increased fragmentation of the restricted range of these species. However, the sites they occupy are among the most stable in this type of habitat and likely to persist.

The beach/dune habitat is particularly important to sea turtles, beach-nesting birds, and shorebirds. Many of the bird species rely on the dynamic nature of the beach, and need storms to recreate wide beaches with bare sand and shell overwash areas. The swash zone (the area between high and low tide) is particularly important to beach invertebrates which are used as a food source by fish and waterbirds. These habitats are also well imitated by dredged-material islands within our sounds that are often devoid of the predators that have invaded the barrier beaches.

Several of the bird species we are most concerned about require early successional habitat for nesting and these habitats have been destroyed or severely altered. Predators (native and nonnative) have increased many-fold; many of these species (cats, herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls, Raccoons, foxes) were not present before the beach became populated with people and their associated trash. These predators have caused significant problems for beach-nesting birds and sea turtles. Vehicle use has also created disturbance issues as well as direct impacts to nesting turtles and birds. Chronic human disturbance is becoming a problem at many sites. People are now able to access even the most remote beaches via shallow draft boats and personal watercrafts. Direct and indirect disturbance, not only by humans but also by their pets, causes problems for nesting and non-nesting birds.

Grazing by feral horses is a significant threat to some protected areas, such as Shackleford Banks and the Rachel Carson Preserve and Currituck National Wildlife Refuge. Grazing and trampling contribute to loss of dune elevation (Porter et al. 2014) and has severely damaged the maritime grasslands in these sites. Patches of Seaside Little Bluestem, which support some of the rarest insects in the state, are now almost absent outside of artificial horse exclosures. Wild horses and other large mammals (including domestic dogs) are also generally incompatible with beach-nesting birds. These mammals inadvertently step on nests and chicks, and cause colony abandonment by adult birds.

Beach renourishment and beach bulldozing can cover or destroy macroinvertebrates in the swash zone and on the beach that foraging shorebirds and surf fishes depend upon. These activities can also destroy sea turtle nests when conducted between May and November. Even under the best survey conditions, all sea turtle nests cannot be found and marked or relocated to prevent take from these activities. Beach renourishment can also lead to more development and possibly decrease washover and increase vegetation, thus decreasing the amount of suitable nesting habitat for beach-nesting birds. Landscaping choices (e.g., introduced species such as Vitex) can also strongly affect the dune system.

quoted from the 2015 North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan

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Maritime Grasslands

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