Safe Harbor Agreements can help save endangered aquatic species

North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission is working in partnership with private landowners to save 21 endangered or potentially endangered aquatic species, including the Ramshorn snail, the Roanoke Logperch, and the Cape Fear Shiner.

Under a Safe Harbor Agreement, participating private and non-federal property landowners voluntarily undertake activities on their property to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat benefiting species listed on the Endangered Species Act.

Safe Harbor Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements can work in tandem to create a program for landowners and the Commission to work together. Through the corresponding agreements, the Commission has the ability to place species on the landowner’s property and monitor them, while allowing landowners to maintain freedom in how they manage their property. If a landowner plans to specifically alter the habitat, they must give the Commission 30 days notice.

“Safe harbor agreements offer landowners a fantastic way to contribute to conservation efforts” said Emily Mason, Advocate at Environment North Carolina. “Since most land in North Carolina is owned privately, these sorts of cooperative programs are essential to the survival of species which need access to very specific habitats.”

North Carolina is one of two states with an aquatic Safe Harbor Agreement in effect. The agreement was finalized in 2022 and will remain in effect until around 2072, helping save endangered wildlife in North Carolina for the next 50 years.