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The global
significance of the region’s natural diversity
From
the cypress swamps, pine bogs and pocosins of the Middle Atlantic and Gulf
coasts to the mixed pine-oak and hardwood forests of the Piedmont and
Cumberland Plateau to the rich and diverse landscapes of the Appalachians and
Ozarks, Southern forests are places of amazing natural beauty. Our forests are
home to more plants and wildlife than any other region in North America and in
the case of freshwater aquatic diversity, more than anywhere else in the world.
Southern
forests provide an amazing array of resources that are integral to both our
quality of life and are an essential part of our cultural heritage. Millions of
people in the south rely on clean drinking water from our forested watersheds.
We all rely on clean and healthy air to breathe. Our forests act as important air
filters and also play a very important role in moderating climate and preventing
flooding.
For
generations, our forests have supported community saw mills and local wood
products industries like manufacturing of fine furniture, hardwood flooring and
high quality lumber. They are also an amazing resource for medicinal plants
such as ginseng and golden seal. We hunt in our coastal forests for game
species like deer and grouse, fish our mountain streams for brook trout and
photograph migratory songbirds making stopovers between the Boreal forests of
Canada and South American rain forests. In addition to hunting, fishing and
bird-watching, forest based recreation such as hiking, mountain biking and
whitewater rafting bring hundreds of millions of dollars to our local economies
in the south every year. Our whitewater paddling is considered by most experts
to be some of the best in the entire world. In addition to work and play, our
forests provide an amazing place to find peace and solitude and refresh and
replenish our spirits. When you think of
biodiversity, the tropical rainforest of the Amazon or Indonesia might come to
mind, but you do not have to travel beyond Southern forests to find
biodiversity of global importance.
Southern
Forests are home to:
· The highest concentration of tree species diversity in North
America.
· The highest concentration of aquatic diversity in the continental
United
States, including the richest temperate freshwater ecosystem in the
world.
· The highest concentration of wetlands in the U.S., 75% of which
are forested.
Nowhere in America are there a greater variety of native plant
communities, native plant species, or rare and endemic plants. Endemism
is the ecological
state of being unique to a place. Endemic species are not naturally found
elsewhere. The place must be a discrete geographical unit, such as an island, habitat type, or other defined area or zone. For
example, the Waccamaw Kill fish is endemic to
Southeastern North Carolina, meaning it is exclusively found in Lake Waccamaw.
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