Feds move red-cockaded woodpecker closer to recovery

By Michael Doyle | 10/24/2024 01:28 PM EDT

The Fish and Wildlife Service says the “vast majority” of woodpecker populations show “stable or increasing growth rates.”

A red-cockaded woodpecker is held by a biologist.

A red-cockaded woodpecker is held by a biologist collecting data on the species at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on July 30, 2019. Robert F. Bukaty/AP

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced a partial recovery Thursday of the red-cockaded woodpecker that warrants promoting the species from endangered to the less dire status of threatened.

Years in the making, the change in Endangered Species Act status marks the bird’s rebounding from about 1,500 clusters in the 1970s to about 7,800 clusters today spanning 11 states.

“Decades of committed recovery work and collaboration drove this remarkable story of recovery,” FWS Director Martha Williams said in a statement, adding that “the improved status of the red-cockaded woodpecker shows that when we give species a chance, they can thrive.”

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The agency said it has determined that the “vast majority” of red cockaded woodpecker populations are “showing stable or increasing growth rates, and the majority of birds and clusters occur in a few large, resilient populations.” Most of the birds are found on federal land.

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