Dobson et al. (1997) reviewed the distributions of endangered species in the United States and identified the Southern Appalachians as a “hot spot of threatened biodiversity.” Over 77% (78 of 101 species) of terrestrial mammals in the southeast are considered “sensitive”, defined as being state or federally listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern, or as being monitored by state Natural Heritage Inventory programs (Laerm et al. 2000).
Mammals are a critical component of the Southern Blue Ridge landscape, influencing vegetation, nutrient cycling and ecosystem integrity. While some are familiar and relatively common like the Virginia opossum and northern raccoon (Procyon lotor), others are reclusive like shrews and moles (Insectivores), bats (Chiroptera), and rodents some of whose life history and distribution are poorly known. The aim for BMP and all TNC SBR preserves is to understand the factors that comprise suitable habitat for these species, define their environment, determine what they consume, how they interact with other species, and in general what role they play in the ecosystems of which they are a part.
No animal in North Carolina is as familiar as the white-tailed deer. The state’s deer population is estimated at around 1 million individuals, wheras an estimated 10,000 deer inhabited the state in 1900. The population trend has stabilized and has actually started to decrease for many areas following liberalization via either-sex seasons in the early 1990s. North Carolina sportsmen and women spend approximately $311 million on deer-related hunting expenses every year. More people hunt white-tailed deer than any other game species in North Carolina.
Deer density in northwestern North Carolina is among the highest in the state (Figure ).
High deer density directly affects woody and herbaceous vegetation composition and indirectly impacts wildlife (Waller and Alverson 1997, Russell et al. 2001, Ness 2003). In such cases, deer can serve as a keystone species. Rare plants like orchids and lilies as well as oaks which are preferred by deer, are
not regenerating while other species resistant to deer browse thrive. Deer alter forest composition and structure by reducing understory density for some birds.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the Carolina northern flying squirrel (G. s. coloratus) as Endangered (U. S. Departmentof the Interior 1993, 2007). It is a Pleistocene relict species that inhabits boreal forests (Wells-Gosling and Heaney 1984) so in North Carolina it is restricted to montane highest elevation spruce-fir, northern hardwood and ecotones . While BMP’s elevation and hemlock stands suggest northern flying squirrels could be present, no individuals have been documented despite NCWRC surveys and BMP likely supports only southern flying squirrels (Christine Kelly, pers comm).
The Appalachian cottontail (S. obscurus), is a rare medium-sized rabbit associated with dense cover, especially scrubby vegetation and ericaceous shrubs typical in forested habitats of the Appalachian Mountains. It has a global rank of Apparently Secure (NatureServe 2007). The species is considered Apparently Secure in Virginia and Vulnerable in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This species is cold-adapted, or boreal northern forest specialist restricted in the southern Appalachian Highlands to a series of isolated, relictual refugia.
The Allegheny woodrat appears to be a habitat generalist, strongly associated with caves, cliff faces, boulder fields, or talus slopes within northern hardwood, red spruce-eastern hemlock, mixed-mesophytic, and mixed-oak pine forest types (Fassler 1974, Castleberry et al. 2002a, Mengak et al. 2002 (Newcombe 1930, Poole 1940). Although this species has a global rank of Vulnerable (NatureServe 2007) and is considered imperiled in North Carolina, Ray (2000) found the species to be relatively abundant in western North Carolina.
The least weasel is North America’s smallest carnivore with a southern range extending down through the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains into northeast Georgia. (Lee et al. 1982, Linzey 1995). It has been granted state protection status of imperiled (S2) in North Carolina. It is generally found in open areas associated with water such as bogs, damp meadows, grasslands, marshes, and river bottoms (Soper 1946, Gunderson and Beer 1953, Nagel 1972). Least weasel populations often track mice, voles, and other small mammal populations (Sheffield and King 1994), thus the maintenance of a diverse understory vegetation enhances weasel habitat by supporting these prey populations.
The Carolina red backed vole inhabits very high-elevation forests including spruce-fir, northern hardwoods (maple-beech-birch), cove hardwood, oak-hickory, and white pine-hemlock stands. The range of red squirrels extends south into the western North Carolina Mountains where they are most commonly associated with Spruce-Fir and White Pine-Hemlock forest (Howell 1929, Odum 1949, Wharton 1968, Linzey and Linzey 1971). Closed canopy conditions that dominate most Northern Hardwood forest stands likely negatively impact soricids such as masked and smoky shrews, which respond favorably to forest disturbance in such stands. (Ford et al. 2002),
Bluff Mountain Preserve 