4- WILDLIFE & HABITATS

4.1- INTRODUCTION

Extensive vegetation community and land-cover mapping was conducted as part of previous management planning efforts for the Island and work conducted by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR). The GADNR mapping efforts characterized vegetation types using National Vegetation Classification designations and associations by NatureServe. A total of 29 vegetation communities and land covers were identified as part of the 2011 update for these mapping efforts, which are shown on Figure 3 and referenced in Section 4.2 below.

Wildlife species use vegetative communities as habitat to forage, to mate and rear offspring, to rest or to hibernate, to support migration, and to remain concealed from predators. Precautionary management, either active or passive, to optimize the capacity of habitat to meet these needs, is especially important in the case of rare species. Differing vegetative communities support different assemblages of wildlife. Some species, such as raccoons, are generalists that benefit from a variety of vegetative communities, while others, such as Wilson’s plovers, are specialists, relying on specific beach and dune habitats.

NatureServe Explorer Link: https://explorer.natureserve.org/

The NatureServe communities were used as the classification system for the 2013 book The Natural Communities of Georgia. Several locations within Jekyll Island State Park are highlighted as featured places, and Jekyll Island is used to characterize several of the coastal vegetative communities.