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This map is provided by the Office of Environmental Stream Watch will provide Lake
Education and Public Affairs in the N.C. Department information about how to Waccamaw NEW
of Environment and Natural Resources. adopt or keep an eye on a

MAP BY LEE RATCLIFFE, FROM THE NOV. 1999 SPECIAL

stream near you.
(919) 715-5435
COLUMBUS

Green Swamp
Wilmington
of North Carolina’s River Basins

W
ISSUE OF WILDLIFE IN NORTH CAROLINA MAGAZINE, I N S Q U A R E M I L E S

a
Bolivia

c
H A N OV E R

c
“RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA.” PUBLISHED BY THE

a m
N.C. WILDLIFE RESOURCES COMMISSION. BASE MAP B RU N S W I C K Cape Fear 9,164

aw
COPYRIGHT JOHN FELS, 1997

Ri
Yadkin-PeeDee 7,221

ve
r
SOURCES: NCDENR DIVISION OF WATER QUALITY;
NCDENR OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Tar-Pamlico 6,148

What Is a River Basin? Neuse 6,062

AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS; N.C. DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION. Cape F ear
Roanoke 3,493
Pasquotank 3,366
river basin encompasses all the land surface drained by many finger-like streams and creeks flowing downhill into one another

A 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.
Lumber
Catawba
French Broad
Little Tennesse
3,329
3,285
2,829
1,797

The shape of a river basin comes from the collective and opposing forces of mountain-building and weathering. Geological forces Discover Your Broad
White Oak
1,514
1,382
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.
Ecological Address! Chowan
New
1,298
754
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 Your river basin is one part of your ecological address. To learn more Hiwassee 644
Watauga 205
and lakes that share a common assembly of water. What happens to the surface or underground water in one part of the river basin about your ecological address, contact the Office of Environmental Savannah 171
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. Education and Public Affairs at (919) 733-0711 or check out the Amazon* 2,300,000
A river basin comes closer than any other defined area of land, with the exception of an isolated island, to meeting the definition of Web site at http://www.eenorthcarolina.org Mississippi* 1,240,000
*for comparison
an ecosystem in which all things are connected and interdependent.
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