Brief History and Significance of RCW Project

For several reasons the Red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) project has become a “classic” TESF effort. 

• Due to the species’ biology, working with RCWs has always been a challenge.  As a habitat specialist that is reliant on mature healthy pine forests (especially long leaf pine forests), the species has a long history of real and imagined conflicts with landowners.  It was these chronic conflicts that prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  (Service) to develop progressive, user-friendly approaches for implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

• The breadth and depth of TESF's RCW Project makes it the first of its kind to improve the conservation status of the species. TESF's RCW Project is the first attempt by a private landowner, state agency, or federal agency to restore the species to a forest where the species had been completely extirpated.  The objectives of the RCW Project were equally unique:  establish a population that would persist with minimal management and serve as a donor of RCWs for restoration throughout the southeast, and develop reintroduction techniques that could be used to promote recovery of the species elsewhere.  Prior to this effort, no other project had attempted to translocate such a large number of RCWs for population reestablishment  (i.e., 10 birds per year for 5 successive years).   

When these unique aspects of the RCW Project were brought to Ted’s attention on the morning the first birds were released at Avalon, without hesitation he said:  “We always do big things for the first time.” 

The RCW Project began in 1998 and by the fall of 2002, 50 birds had been translocated from the Appalachicola National Forest and released at Avalon.  Careful management since then has resulted in a population of ~ 15 active family groups that include ~ 65 birds.  In the presence of continued fieldwork it is reasonable to expect this population to grow to 20 to 25 active groups.  At that point the Service would be able to translocate birds to suitable habitat elsewhere in the southeast to advance recovery of the species throughout its historical range. 

The Service has long since recognized the importance of private land to conservation of RCWs (USFWS 2003:119-129).    As of 2010, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (“FWC”) estimates 55-85 active groups reside on private lands in Florida.  Clearly the Avalon RCW population with the potential to support ~ 25 active groups stands as one of the most important in Florida that will become more so as it develops into a “donor population” (USFWS 2003:123).

The current and expected success of the RCW Project represents a significant step forward for conservation of the species, particularly on private land which supports few viable populations despite an abundance of suitable habitat.  As an iconic species that is often cited as a classic example of the intractable difficulty of blending imperiled species conservation and private land ownership, the relationship between RCWs and Avalon  justifies optimism for the future of the species’ and the ESA.

Developing a Safe Harbor Program for RCW's at Avalon

The Safe Harbor program provides incentives for private and other non-federal property owners to restore, enhance, or maintain habitats for listed species like the RCW (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1999).  Through a Safe Harbor Agreement (“SHA”) property owners can manage habitat to generate benefits for a listed species that in turn allows the Service to provide assurances that additional land, water, and/or natural resource use restrictions will not be imposed as a result of their voluntary conservation actions to benefit the listed species.  When the property owner meets all the terms of the SHA, the Service will authorize incidental taking of the covered species at a level that enables the property owner ultimately to return the enrolled property back to the agreed upon baseline conditions.  Useful background information about the relevance of the Safe Harbor Program for RCWs at Avalon has previously been disseminated (Seydel 2010a, Seydel 2010b, Seydel 2011, Tidwell 2010, 2011).

The RCW Safe Harbor Program in Florida is managed by FWC through a programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement (“Florida’s RCW SHA”) that the state developed with the Service (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 2006).  Florida’s RCW SHA allows non-federal property owners to be involved in the Safe Harbor program through “Certificates of Inclusion” which are issued by FWC per specific Safe Harbor Management Agreements (“SHMA”) developed with individual property owners. 

Currently 14 landowners, representing 65,534 acres supporting 12 baseline RCW groups, are enrolled in Florida’s Safe Harbor Program (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unpublished data).  Turner’s contribution of ~ 18,000 acres and up to ~ 15 baseline groups would represent significant additions to this important conservation effort.