Date and time: Thursday, October 24, 2024
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov
WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior announced today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has downlisted the red-breasted woodpecker from endangered to endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This milestone is the culmination of 50 years of collaborative conservation efforts between the Department of the Interior, federal and state partners, tribes, the private sector, and individual landowners, resulting in The population of these remarkable birds has increased.
Secretary Deb Haaland said: “The delisting of the red-cockaded woodpecker marks an important milestone in our nation’s commitment to biodiversity conservation. Through decades of collaborative efforts by a broad coalition of partners, we have brought this iconic species to the brink. “I brought him back to life,” he said. This is another significant accomplishment in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s implementation of the iconic Endangered Species Act. ”
The Red-bellied Woodpecker was listed as an endangered species in 1973 and has since benefited from active conservation efforts by partners and private landowners. For example, the statewide safe harbor agreement enrolls 459 nonfederal landowners covering approximately 2.5 million acres, resulting in increased red cockade populations on private lands over the past 30 years.
“Decades of dedicated recovery work and collaboration have propelled this remarkable recovery story,” said Service Director Martha Williams. “We worked closely with the department, private landowners, tribes, state agencies, businesses, utilities, and conservation groups.” “Improving conditions for the red-cockaded woodpecker show that if you give the species a chance, it can thrive. The Endangered Species Act serves as a catalyst for these collaborative efforts to accelerate recovery and protect habitat. There is a possibility.”
The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a territorial, non-migratory bird that lives in mature pine forests of the southeastern United States. Once found from New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas, and north to Missouri, the woodpecker’s range had shrunk to just a few states by the 1960s after more than a century of habitat loss. did. In the late 1970s, the red-cockaded woodpecker population reached an all-time low of an estimated 1,470 flocks. Currently, the agency estimates there are 7,800 clusters in 11 states, from southern Virginia to eastern Texas.
The Service also finalized the 4(d) rule governing species conservation. Rule 4(d) continues the same ban on the red-cockaded woodpecker as an endangered species, includes exceptions for routine law enforcement activities and habitat management, and provides species-specific exceptions for beneficial management practices. We have established. The ban applies throughout the species’ range, on both public and private lands. Over the past 40 years, these prohibitions have provided an easy-to-understand and widely accepted framework for protecting red-cockaded woodpeckers and the habitat resources on which they depend.
Although the condition of the red-cockaded woodpecker has improved, the species has not fully recovered. The Red-bellied Woodpecker remains an endangered species and is at risk of becoming extinct again due to habitat loss, episodic events such as hurricanes, ice storms, and wildfires, and the challenges posed by low numbers. . The Service will continue to work with a coalition of partners to help red-cockaded woodpeckers thrive and move towards full recovery.
The service utilizes conservation benefit contracts as a tool that allows landowners to manage their land with minimal regulatory oversight while ensuring a baseline population of woodpeckers. These agreements encourage activities such as prescribed fire to restore longleaf pine forests with healthy understory grasses and a mix of old and young trees necessary for woodpecker survival.
For more information about this final downlist and the 4(d) rules, please visit the Service’s Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
The final rule will be published in the Federal Register on October 24, 2024. Supporting documents are available on regulatory.gov by searching for docket number FWS-R4-ES-2019-0018.
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