The red-cockaded woodpecker is an imperiled Southern icon
Why is the red-cockaded woodpecker at risk?
Once common in the South, red-cockaded woodpeckers now number as few as 7,800 active clusters of birds. Logging and fire suppression destroyed much of the longleaf pine habitat where the woodpecker makes its home. As the number of older pines and the size of forests decreased, so did the red-cockaded woodpecker population. The bird has rebounded slightly under decades of intensive management and the Endangered Species Act protections, but increasing effects of climate change, including more severe storms and rising temperatures, now pose even greater risks to the limited habitat the red-cockaded woodpecker has left, much of which is in the hurricane-prone coastal plain.
Rollbacks to federal protections put the red-cockaded woodpecker’s survival at risk
A recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decision to reclassify the red-cockaded woodpecker from “endangered” to “threatened” risks undoing decades of hard work to conserve this iconic Southern bird. The service hasn’t met its own criteria for such a downlisting. Instead, FWS’s own assessment shows that the majority of the woodpecker’s isolated populations are small, with “inherently very low or low resiliency” to withstand environmental threats.
The move to reclassify it isn’t supported by science and would have serious implications for the red-cockaded woodpecker’s survival — as well as the pine forest habitat the species inhabits. FWS’s reclassification is an improvement over what was proposed during the Trump administration but still does not consider the accelerating threats to the species from climate change and habitat loss.
The downlisting decision is still not based on the best interest of the species. FWS has not met its own scientific recovery plan criteria to justify loosening protections for this imperiled Southern icon.
Ramona McGee, SELC Wildlife Program Leader
SELC is working to save the red-cockaded woodpecker
Alongside our partners, SELC continues to advocate for science-based and climate-conscious decision making for red-cockaded woodpeckers and all Southern species. In Charleston, South Carolina, we’re challenging the proposed Cainhoy development for its ill-conceived plans, including failure to consider impacts to red-cockaded woodpeckers on the adjacent Francis Marion National Forest.
Meanwhile, SELC also continues to work to restore science to agency decisions, including by advocating for stronger regulations under laws like the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The law doesn’t allow federal agencies to walk away from species conservation, and SELC is committed to defending the South’s wildlife.
