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| | NC State University-Extension Forestry-Natural Resources Inventory of North Carolina |
 | | Wetlands also are important to water quality because many of them occupy riparian areas along streams, rivers and estuaries and provide buffer areas which retard flow, allowing deposition of sediment and filtration and/or decomposition of other potential pollutants (nutrients, pesticides, etc.) before they reach environmentally sensitive waters. |
 | | Between the 1950s and the early 1980s in the Coastal Plain, forestry (a partially supporting use) was responsible for an estimated 38-53% of wetlands conversions, agriculture (nonsupporting) was responsible for an estimated 42-52%, and urban development (nonsupporting) was responsible for 2-10%. |
 | | In quantitative terms, North Carolina is home to 120 species of mammals, 200 species of resident and migrating breeding birds, 70 species of reptiles, 80 species of amphibians, 245 species of freshwater fish, and a large number of saltwater fish and invertebrate species. |
| www.ces.ncsu.edu /nreos/ncnatres (9733 words) |
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