UPDATE: RCW GONE FROM KENTUCKY

Representatives from the Daniel Boone National Forest recently met with Fish and Wildlife Service staff to provide updated information about the southern pine beetle outbreak, and to discuss the fate of the red-cockaded woodpecker population. They estimate that approximately 70 percent of the pine habitat on the Daniel Boone has already been destroyed or is currently infested by pine beetles. The cold snap that hit eastern Kentucky in late December 2000 and early January 2001 has slowed the beetles= progress, but has not killed them. The pine beetle outbreak is expected to continue, and by the end of this year Forest personnel estimate that almost 100,000 acres of pine will be lost. This means that the native southern pine community will be eliminated from the Daniel Boone National Forest.

In February there were 17 red-cockaded woodpeckers accounted for on the Daniel Boone National Forest. Fifteen of the birds were still roosting in cavities they were using prior to the outbreak; the other two birds had been observed, but had not been tracked to roosting cavities. Since the red-cockaded woodpecker only inhabits live pines, and very few of the active cavity trees were still alive, it was not known how much longer they would remain in those trees or how they would survive. It was therefore decided that it would be best to remove the birds and relocate them to areas where suitable pine habitat existed. The birds in the two active breeding clusters would be moved in tact as family groups, and the unmated single birds would be moved to areas that would provide them the highest potential to pair and mate. Forest biologists captured 15 of the 17 woodpeckers in March. Most were returned to a refuge in South Carolina and some were released on a National Forest in Arkansas. Given the complete loss of pine habitat, the fate of the two birds remaining on the Daniel Boone NF is uncertain.

Daniel Boone National Forest personnel will continue active management of pine habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker and are in the initial stages of developing plans to restore the southern pine community. This will involve an effort to re-establish pine stands by: (1) Apreparing@ sites by removing vegetation that might compete with young pine trees, (2) planting pine seedlings, and (3) thinning the stands when they become too dense. Re-establishing the estimated 100,000 acres of lost pine habitat will be a formidable task, and it will be at least 60 years before the planted pine stands provide suitable nesting habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker.

Reports received from biologists at the refuge and Forest where the woodpeckers were taken are encouraging. The two family groups are still together and exhibiting typical nesting behavior; the unmated birds are staying in the release areas and have been seen interacting with resident woodpeckers.