Contacts:
Jeff Fleming, FWS, 404-679-7287 (w), 404-274-6693 (mobile)
Nancy Ledbetter, AGFC, 501-223-6318 (w), 501-912-1979 (mobile)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, less the four weeks since the dramatic announcement that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was indeed rediscovered on the agency’s Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, will announce the formation of a multi-agency, multi-partner recovery team. Over the next two years the recovery team will develop a road map for the conservation and recovery of this extraordinary bird.

WH0:

Sam Hamilton, the Service’s Southeast Regional Director, members of the Recovery Team’s executive committee.

WHAT:

The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the formation of the recovery team for the endangered Ivory-billed Woodpecker across its historic range. Announcement will be made by Sam D. Hamilton, the Service’s Southeast Regional Director.

WHEN:

Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Media Teleconference @ 12 Noon EDT, 11 a.m. CDT.
Call-in Number: 888-455-0047
Passcode: Ivory Billed Woodpecker

BACKGROUND:

On April 28, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns joined The Nature Conservancy, Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and other partners to announce the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, thought to be extinct for more than 60 years, on the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Arkansas.

The Interior and Agriculture Departments announced they would reallocate $10.2 million to protect the charismatic bird. This funding is in addition to $10 million already committed to research and habitat protection efforts by private sector groups and citizens.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Please visit our website at: http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill/.