Sandhills East
Location: Hoke and Cumberland Counties Total
Size: 131,680 acres
Map
Site Description: This site includes the extensive sandhills east of the
Lumber River, near Fayetteville. Within the IBA is Ft. Bragg, a military installation used
extensively for military training, and Weymouth Woods State Park. The IBA
together with the Sandhills West site encompasses extensive
longleaf pine-wiregrass forests, hardwood bottomlands, riparian areas and lakes
and large specially managed grasslands. This is one of the best examples
of this community type in the eastern United States.
Habitats: coniferous, forests, mixed forests, deciduous forests, riparian. Longleaf Pine Forests, Sandhills.
Land Use: military training, wildlife conservation, water supply, hunting
Primary Threats: disturbance to birds, soil erosion, predation, residential/commercial development, drought, hurricane
Protection Status: Extensive management program to monitor and reduce land use impacts and enhance habitats for wildlife. USFWS and NCWRC are signatory partners on Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan. All significant federal actions subject to NEPA process.
Conservation Issues: Avian threats are limited mostly to direct or indirect impacts from military training and infrastructure. Outside the military base, threats include conversion of the sandhills to residential/ commercial/industrial development. Additional avian threats may include parasitism and/or predation.
Birds: The site consists of extensive longleaf pine forest-sandhills habitat (Criteria 3).The site support one of the largest groups of nesting Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in the United States. Healthy populations of longleaf, forested grassland birds such as Brown-headed Nuthatch, Blue-headed Vireo, Bachman's sparrow, Prairie Warbler, Pine Warbler and Summer Tanager. Abundant large (up to 300 individuals) mixed winter foraging flocks. Avian monitoring/research includes MAPS, BBIRD, 200 plus point counts, winter foraging flock studies, fire and avian community studies and landscape ecology studies.
Key Bird Species
|
Criteria |
Season |
Number |
||
| 1 |
Red-cockaded woodpecker |
all |
280 pr. | |
| 2 |
Bachman's Sparrow |
all |
100 pr. | |
| 2 |
Brown-headed Nuthatch |
B |
-- | |
| 2 |
Loggerhead Shrike |
B |
-- | |
| 4a |
American Kestrel |
B |
-- | |
| 4a |
Lark Sparrow |
B |
-- | |
| Pine Warbler | B | -- | ||
| Summer Tanager | B | -- |
B=Breeding FM=Fall Migration
SM=Spring Migration W=Winter
Sources: