On Dec. 18, a group of preservationists released groups of previously endangered woodpeckers to their new home in South Georgia.
The red-cockaded woodpecker, or RCW for short, is a small, black-and-white bird that primarily lived in Georgia’s longleaf pine savannas, which shrank as industry moved into the state.
Other woodpeckers make their homes in dead trees, but these bore nests in living longleaf pines. These holes later serve as homes for other species, making the woodpeckers a crucial part of their ecosystem.
The red-cockaded woodpecker was once listed as federally endangered, but they’ve rebounded as their longleaf pine forest habitats have been restored.
Joe Burnham is a senior wildlife biologist with Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources, he says Thursday’s release is a part of a long-term effort to care for the growing population.
“It’s a large effort by a lot of agencies and a lot of people. It takes a focused effort to do that because they are a management driven species,” he says. “We can’t just put them on the landscape and then walk away and check it off that they’re done. They’re going to require us to continue to burn and to continue to do wise timber management.”
Those agencies include the Department of Defense at Fort Stewart Army Base, The Jones Center at Ichauway, Tall Timbers, the USDA Forest Service, the Longleaf Alliance, Casto Environmental Services, Quail Forever, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.