East Gulf Coastal Plain
(Area - 24,640,700 ha)
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Location and physiography - The East Gulf Coastal Plain
extends from the Florida Parishes of Louisiana over most of Mississippi, some of western
Tennessee and Kentucky, the southwestern 2/3 of Alabama, and the western panhandle of Florida.
Its southern boundary is the Gulf of Mexico and its western boundary the drop into the
Mississippi Alluvial Valley. On the north it extends to the highlands of the Interior Low Plateaus
and southern Appalachians. To the east, there is an arbitrary break with the South Atlantic
Coastal Plain at the Alabama-Georgia border south through Florida along the Apalachicola River.
The flat to rolling topography is broken by numerous streams and river bottoms. Uplands are
dominated by pine, originally longleaf and slash in the south and shortleaf mixed with hardwoods
in the north. These are fire-maintained systems that give way to loblolly pine and hardwoods in
damper areas and bottomland hardwood forest in extensive lowland drainages.
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Conservation issues and recommendations - The most heavily altered habitat type in this physiographic area is pine forest, where conversion of longleaf to shorter rotation, economically more important pine species and fire suppression have changed species composition and vegetative structure. It is recommended that fire-managed longleaf area be increased for Red-cockaded Woodpecker and other birds best served by that habitat. In the meantime and elsewhere, even short rotation pine, particularly in the first several post-harvest years can be significantly more important to birds than many alternate uses of that land.
A significant amount of bottomland hardwood habitat remains, although hydrological alteration and conversion to other uses and cover types have had their influence. It is recommended that five bottomland hardwood sites suitable for Swallow-tailed Kite be maintained or restored. In addition, at least one watershed in the north should be in a condition to support a Cerulean Warbler population. Eleven sites are recommended for Swainson's Warblers and associated species, and another twelve of smaller size for Prothonotary Warblers and associates.
Much upland hardwood habitat has been converted to short rotation pine, pasture and farming, and development. It is suggested that five healthy tracts 4,000 ha or greater in size be maintained or developed in west Tennessee and Kentucky and ten more in Mississippi and Alabama, each with some core area managed for long rotation sawtimber.
Coastal zone development is particularly rapid and destructive to bird habitat in the East Gulf Coastal Plain. The impact of this change on in-transit migrants is difficult to quantify, but may be extreme. All remaining maritime community habitat should be protected and acreage increased through restoration where possible. This includes maritime forest as well as the emergent wetlands and beach and dunes so important to many priority breeding, wintering, and in-transit birds.
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