North Carolina's river basins

~_^JV\ayo Reservoir Roanoke Rapids ROCKING Gatesville Wentwori Elizabeth Cityj* Camden Jackson Henderson Belews Lake • SON Boone YADKIN W. Kerr Scott Reservoir Hertford Newland Wilkesboro Yadkinville AVERY ORANGE Louisbui Bakersville DURHAM Windsor Rocky Mount Burnsville 'o Graham CALDWELL DAVIE Mocksville Nashville Durham Wake Forest Lenoir C .Manteo Tarboro Williamstoi Lake Rhodhiss Ml. Hardison Statesville MARTIN Lookout ^ Shoals у Lake • Newton Raleigh Morganton BURKE Clingmam Dome 6643’ McDOW Pittsboro Asheboro Marion South WILSON CATAWBA 3 tea f SmoKY f National FCn<Lake SWAIN Green' Mountains Mountains .Washington Mooresville Lake tattamuskeeU Lake LINCOLN Norman Bad in JOHNSTON Sanford Lincolnton Smithfield RUTHERF CLEVELAND Kings Mountain Reservoir M oun tain Island GASTON x Lake Rutherfordton Carthage POLK Goldsboro .Troy NTGOME HARNETT Hendersonvil Kinston Shelby Columbus Gastonia Franklin Hiwassee Murphy Charlotte Hayesville Matthe Blewett Falls ” ). Lake RICHMOND Fayetteville JONES Raeford Clinton Kenansville Catfish Lake DUPLIN Havelock Rockingham Wolf Swamp ONSLOW Lake Ellis Simon Jacksonville Lumberton WATAUGA Elizabethtown NEW ingletary ROANOKE PENDER NORTH Burg aw CAROLINA Holly Shelter Swamp PASQUOTANK FRENCH BROAD LITTLE ' TENNESSEE BROAD Whit evil le HIWASSEE Waccamaw WHITE OAK LUMBER Green Swamp Bolivia Phoenix Mtn. 4690' Jefferson Sparta Dismal Swamp Rapids Lake JohnH. Kerr Reservoir Lake SURRY Dobson Hyco \- Lake GRANVILLE .Roxboro 3 aston HAM Yanceyville CASWELL Wmton Reidsv Warren ton Oxford Lake . ^ Burlington \f Quaker a Creek \ I Reservoir FORSYTH ^ Ker Winston-Salem я t*. Carrboro * ® Chapel Hi Co umbia Thomasvi e Ml. Mitchell 6684' WASHINGTON iouth . Marshall Lexington TYRRELL Hollow Ground Swamp Phelps Lake s DARE Harris Reserve Lrf jt ( ROWAI High ъ _ , ® Rock Salisbury Waterrock 6292’ Wayneeville см Min. л * ** Ml.Pisgah Richland 572r Balsam . Sylva 6540' Asheville Tucke rt own Reservoir GREENE Snow Hill Swan Quarter ^GRAHAM Robbinsville Kannapolis -Concord © BARRUS Albemarle Brevard tbiiibiiuiu 5 Standing c Indian Min. = 5499' S E N О I R Bay boro New Bern Trenton Monroe Wadesboro UNION St ream Watch N.C.“ УДУ ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION \Z This map is provided by the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs in the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. I his map is provided by the Office of Environmental Stream Watch will provide Education and Public Affairs in the N.C. Department information about how to of Environment and Natural Resources. adopt or keep an eye on a stream near you. MAP BY LEE RATCLIFFE, FROM THE NOV 1999 SPECIAL (9 1 9) 7 15 -5435 ISSUE OF WILDLIFE IN NORTH CAROLINA MAGAZINE, “RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA.” PUBLISHED BY THE N.C. WILDLIFE RESOURCES COMMISSION. BASE MAP COPYRIGHT JOHN FELS, 1997 SOURCES: NCDENR DIVISION OF WATER QUALITY; NCDENR OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS; N.C. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. ca Fear Cape Lookout of North Carolina's River Basins What Is a River В river basin encompasses all the land surface drained by many finger-like streams and creeks flowing downhill into one another and eventually into one river, which forms its artery and backbone. As a bathtub catches all the water that falls within its sides and directs the water out its drain, a river basin sends all the water falling within its surrounding ridges into its system of creeks and streams to gurgle and splash downhill into its river and out to an estuary or the ocean. The shape of a river basin comes from the collective and opposing forces of mountain-building and weathering. Geological forces push mountains up into the sky, and weathering from rain and wind wears mountainsides into hillsides and valleys and plains. A jigsaw puzzle of river basins reflects in three dimensions the outcome of these combined forces molding the landscape. As an artery connects the parts of a body to one another, so a river threads together the creeks and streams, valleys and hills, springs and lakes that share a common assembly of water. What happens to the surface or underground water in one part of the river basin will find its way to other parts. If water is diverted out of its usual course in one part of a river basin, other parts will know its absence. A river basin comes closer than any other defined area of land, with the exception of an isolated island, to meeting the definition of an ecosystem in which all things are connected and interdependent. Discover Your Ecological Address! Your river basin is one part of your ecological address. To learn more about your ecological address, contact the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs at (919) 733-0711 or check out the Web site at http://www.eenorthcarolina.org IN SQUARE штшшяя Cape Fear 9, 164 Yadkin-PeeDee 7,221 Tar-Pamlico 6,148 Neuse 6,062 Roanoke 3,493 Pasquotank 3,366 Lumber 3,329 Catawba 3,285 French Broad 2,829 Little Tennesse 1,797 Broad 1,514 White Oak 1,382 Chowan 1,298 New 754 Hiwassee 644 Watauga 205 Savannah 171 Amazon* 2,300,000 Mississippi* 1 ,240,000 ’for comparison Funded through a Walmart Stormwater Compliance Grant. 2010. 7000 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $2,481.46 or $0.35 per copy. Printed on recycled paper. 9/2010