Could your NC pond save an endangered species? A Safe Harbor Agreement could help.

In partnership with private landowners, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is working to return 21 endangered or potentially endangered aquatic species to the wild.

The project is made possible via a Safe Harbor Agreement with landowners and the companion Candidate Conservation Agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The conservation agreement was formalized in November 2022 and will remain in effect for 50 years.

Under the terms of the agreement, landowners agree to allow the species to be placed on their property and to allow wildlife staff to monitor them. They also agree not to intentionally harm the species and to provide at least a 30-day notice if they want to alter the habitat where the species was placed.

In return, the wildlife agencies agree to allow landowners to continue managing their land as they see fit. The idea is to ease concerns that placing endangered species on or around their property could result in steep regulatory hurdles, Rachael Hoch, the Wildlife Resources Commission assistant chief of inland fisheries, told The News & Observer.

“We’re able to reintroduce species and kind of give them reassurances that what they’re already doing works for the species and that that regulatory burden is lessened,” Hoch said.

North Carolina and Kansas are the only two states with Safe Harbor agreements in effect for threatened aquatic species.

Brynn Garner, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman, said Safe Harbor Agreements are a key tool used by wildlife conservation agencies and provide a “net conservation benefit” for the species they are used to introduce.

“Especially in a state like North Carolina, where 90% of land is privately owned, the involvement of the private sector in the conservation and recovery of species is crucial,” Garner wrote in an email to The N&O.

At the end of the agreement’s term, the property owner is allowed to return their waters to their original conditions.

The species that will be reintroduced under the program are either listed as endangered species or being considered for endangered species status. That’s where the Candidate Conservation Agreement comes in, with the Wildlife Resources Commission agreeing to take steps to protect species the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers likely to be endangered but cannot immediately list.

Among many others, species that are eligible for reintroduction under the program include the Cape Fear shiner, a minnow found in shallow streams throughout the Cape Fear basin; the yellow lance mussel; and the lake sturgeon, a torpedo-shaped fish that can live for as long as 150 years.

So far, the Wildlife Resources Commission has reintroduced two rare species under the agreement.

Nearly 3,000 magnificent ramshorn snails were placed in a Brunswick County pond this fall, and the Roanoke logperch, a small fish found near the North Carolina-Virignia state line, was returned to the Upper Mayo River in October.

For species like magnificent ramshorn, finding ponds that have the right pH levels and lack of salinity can be difficult. In fact, the snail has only ever been found in four ponds in Southeastern North Carolina, and three of them were on private property in Brunswick County.

“We want to work with the private land owners who may have those conditions in their ponds around their property that are already doing good work,” Hoch said. “Let’s partner together to restore the species and by restoring the species we’ve reached our goal, which is it’s self sufficient and it doesn’t need management intervention or help.”

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.