Record #:

6890

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The 2004 North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation creating a saltwater fishing license. The issue had been debated for over a decade. Fishermen will not be required to have the license until January 1, 2006. Then residents and nonresidents who fish from the shore or a boat in the state's marine waters will be required to purchase the $15 license annually. Vacationers may purchase a seven-day license for $1.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 68 Issue 10, Oct 2004, p34, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Fisheries--Laws and legislation; Fish and game licenses; Saltwater fishing

Record #:

6899

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

A long-range goal of the North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries is to have all of the state's major fish species in a viable or recovering category within the next ten years. Currently eighteen out of the forty stocks are in these classifications. New additions are the Atlantic croaker, which moved from concerned to viable, and the monkfish, which moved from overfished to recovering.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 68 Issue 11, Nov 2004, p34, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Endangered species; Atlantic croaker fisheries

Record #:

7008

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The National Audubon Society's first “The State of Birds” report indicates some disturbing trends for birds across the country, including several species in North Carolina. The report concentrates on 654 birds species in five major types of habitats. In North Carolina several species have declined sine 1966. These include the painted bunting, which has lost half its population; the Eastern meadowlark, down 66 percent; and Henslow's sparrow, down 90 percent.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 1, Jan 2005, p34, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Bird populations--Estimates

Record #:

7122

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

In 1965, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission surveys indicated a quail harvest by hunters of almost three million birds. By 2002, the number had dropped to around two hundred thousand. The primary cause of the decline is that the birds no longer have the habitat they require. Increasing population demands more land for businesses and homes. Farmers became more efficient with their land and planted crops that didn't benefit quail as corn, wheat, and soybeans had. Fires, which once benefited quail habitats, are now more controlled in the forests. Wilson discuss this decline and what, if anything, can be done to restore the quail population.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 3, Mar 2005, p4-10, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Bird populations; Quails

Record #:

7198

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

In Brevard, white squirrels make up about 25 percent of the total squirrel population. The animals have been protected by law within the city limits since 1986. The squirrels are not albinos; they have a gray patch on their heads, a gray dorsal stripe, and dark eyes. The squirrels exist in a number of towns east of the Mississippi. Brevard celebrates an annual White Squirrel Festival, and the local White Squirrel Shoppe sells white squirrel products, including mugs, candles, and ornaments.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 5, May 2005, p35, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Squirrels--Brevard; Festivals--Brevard

Record #:

7222

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The number of wild turkeys harvested during the winter hunting season of 2005 declined from the 2004 season. There were 151 turkeys harvested in 2005, compared with 181 in 2004. Stokes County ranked first with twenty-three birds, and Person and Surry Counties reported the fewest birds with seven each. Harvest numbers reflect the participation of hunters in each county rather than the turkey populations. Overall, North Carolina's wild turkey population exceeds 130,000.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 6, June 2005, p35, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Wild turkeys; Hunters and hunting

Record #:

7353

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

North Carolina generally has the largest wintering East Coast population of tundra swans. Only five states have hunting seasons for the eastern population, and North Carolina usually has the largest harvest. The first tundra swan hunting season in the state took place in 1984-1985 and 867 birds were killed. The 2004-2005 season produced the second-lowest harvest on record with 1,745 birds taken. Wilson discusses this decline in the harvest.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 8, Aug 2005, p36, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Hunting; Hunters; Tundra swan

Record #:

7491

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The periauger was flat-bottomed, dugout workboat in the state's waterways during the 18th- and early 19th-centuries that disappeared in the first half of the 19th-century. Improved roadways, the opening of more railroad lines, and the steamboat contributed to its demise. Archaeologists have yet to find the remains of a vessel of this type in the state. In 2004, a group of marine historians successfully planned, built, and sailed a reproduction of periauger. Wilson discusses the project.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 11, Nov 2005, p20-25, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Shipbuilding--History; Work boats--History

Record #:

7493

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

Hunters in the Northeast Hunt Zone will have a winter season for Canada geese for the first time since 1992. The zone is comprised of all or parts of eleven counties in the northeastern Coastal Plain. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had closed the zone to hunting in an attempt to allow a declining migrating population a chance to rebound. North Carolina has both a resident Canada geese population and a migratory one. The resident one now numbers over one million while the migratory remains constant at around five thousand. Wildlife biologists hope to find reasons for this through examinations of the shot geese. The wildlife service will issue only five hundred permits, and each hunter can shoot one goose.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 11, Nov 2005, p36, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Canada goose--Monitoring--North Carolina, Northeastern; Goose shooting

Record #:

7495

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

At the beginning of the 20th century, vast flocks of Canada geese wintered in North Carolina. With numbers reaching over 100,000, Lake Mattamuskeet was called the Canada goose capital of the world. In the last century, the number of migrating geese has dwindled to around 5,000 while the resident population has multiplied to over one million. Resident Canada geese are found in all one hundred counties. Migratory birds winter in northeastern North Carolina. Stable breeding habitats, few predators, and short distances to migrate contribute to the resident's population growth. Wilson presents an account of North Carolina's Canada geese from the 16th century to the present.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 10, Oct 2005, p4-13, il, map Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Canada goose

Record #:

7499

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The state's ocean and coastal fisheries are showing limited signs of progress as two stocks, striped mullet and sharks, are upgraded to recovering, as reported in a stock status report from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. Weakfish was downgraded to overfished, and summer flounder was moved to the concerned category. The 2005 stock report lists fish in the following categories: viable, recovering, concerned, overfished, and unknown.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 10, Oct 2005, p37, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Fisheries--Statistics

Record #:

7512

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The native range of the ring-necked pheasant is central Asia to China. The Greeks wrote about the bird in the tenth century B.C. For centuries people have relocated the bird around the world. The first attempt in North America was in 1733, but it was not until 1881 that the first permanent colony of these pheasants was established in Oregon. The ring-necked pheasant is one of the country's most sought-after game birds. Between 1928 and 1931, the North Carolina Wildlife Commission released about 5,000 of them on the mainland, and hunting clubs on the Outer Banks released another 175 between 1931 and 1935. Wilson discusses the history of the pheasant in North Carolina.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 69 Issue 12, Dec 2005, p9 Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Ring-necked pheasant

Record #:

7574

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

The annual summer brood survey of wild turkeys, conducted by North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologists, found that the state had its second-poorest hatch ever in 2005. Only 53 percent of the hens had young turkeys. The worst year was 2003, when only 51 percent of the hens had young. Wilson discuses reasons for this and what effect the small birthrate will have on the hunting season.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 70 Issue 1, Jan 2006, p36, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Wild turkeys

Record #:

7622

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

Quail Forever was founded in the summer of 2005 by Pheasants Forever, a conservation group with over twenty years experience in maintaining and restoring pheasant habitats. The first chapter of Quail Forever in North Carolina was formed by sportsmen in the southern Coastal Plain. The chapter will focus its efforts on improving quail habitats in the area's public lands.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 70 Issue 2, Feb 2006, p36, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Quails; Habitat conservation--North Carolina, Eastern

Record #:

7733

Author(s):

Wilson, Jim

Abstract:

When completed, the North Carolina Birding Trail will be a network of bird-watching sites across the state linked by highways and marked as a single entity. Over thirty states have similar trails that generate millions of ecotourism dollars and provide funds to protect vanishing bird habitats.

Source:

Wildlife in North Carolina (NoCar SK 431 W54x), Vol. 70 Issue 4, Apr 2006, p36, il Periodical Website

Subject(s):

Birding sites