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Ivory-billed Woodpecker Fact Sheet

The Nature Conservancy and The Big Woods

April 28, 2005—Since 1982, The Nature Conservancy and its partners have safeguarded more than 120,000 acres in the Big Woods of Arkansas, a 550,000-acre corridor of floodplain forest along the Mississippi River – and the location where the ivory-billed woodpecker was rediscovered in 2004. Along with providing critical habitat for the ivory-bill, the Big Woods is vitally important for the survival of numerous endangered species, 108 species of native fish and more than 265 species of birds.

1982

The Nature Conservancy launches its Arkansas chapter and quickly forges partnerships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to protect Arkansas’s rich natural and hunting heritage.

1985

The Conservancy acquires initial acreage on the Cache River and Bayou DeView.

1986

The Cache River National Wildlife Refuge is established with the transfer of 380 acres of land from the Conservancy to the USFWS and with legislation supported by Sens. Dale Bumpers and David Pryor.

1989

Conservancy acquires its largest tract of land to date: 3,667 acres at Little Dixie Farm, now the headquarters of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. Later that year, the Cache River and lower White River are designated as “Wetlands of International Importance” by the Ramsar Convention of the United Nations.

1991

The Conservancy identifies major restoration and conservation needs for the Big Woods as a priority for restoration and conservation. This plan helps secure Congressional authorization for the expansion of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge to 55,000 acres.

1992

A massive land exchange of 41,000 acres is orchestrated by The Nature Conservancy, Sen. Dale Bumpers, the USFWS, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Potlatch Corporation (which owned the land) to create a protected corridor connecting the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge with the White River National Wildlife Refuge. The land exchange, valued at more than $20 million, is accomplished at virtually no cost to the taxpayer.

1993

The Conservancy and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission acquire 302 acres along Benson Creek, helping protect Bayou DeView in the Big Woods.

1996

With support from The Nature Conservancy and state agencies, Arkansas voters approve a 1/8-cent sales tax to be used by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission to purchase and protect lands in the Arkansas Delta and elsewhere. The number of acres protected by The Nature Conservancy in the Big Woods reaches more than 68,000.

2000

The Conservancy launches a project to restore the natural river flows of the Big Woods waterways. The Conservancy begins working with farmers to stabilize stream banks by planting buffer strips of trees and preventing erosion through techniques such as no-till farming.

2002

The Conservancy and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers form a partnership called the Sustainable Rivers Project to protect ecological health of 10 U.S. rivers – including the White River – through improved dam management.

2004

The ivory-billed woodpecker, long believed to be extinct, is rediscovered in the Big Woods on land protected by the Conservancy and Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission.

2005

By 2005, more than 50,000 acres in the flood plain of the Big Woods are replanted in bottomland hardwoods.

For More Information About the Ivory-billed Woodpecker:

• Found: The Ivory-billed Woodpecker
  Learn about the timeline of the search for the ivory-bill, The Nature Conservancy's conservation efforts in the Big Woods of Arkansas, meet the search team, and more!
• Live audio chat about the ivory-billed woodpecker with Phillip Hoose
  Phillip Hoose, author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, discusses the recent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
• Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas
  The Nature Conservancy's work in Arkansas helps protect and restore ecologically rich wetlands, threatened native prairies, caves, forests and waterways.
• Places We Protect: The Big Woods of Arkansas
  This 550,000-acre corridor of floodplain forest follows the bayous and rivers that flow into the Mississippi River and includes the most extensive example of natural shoreline along the lower Mississippi. For 41 miles, the banks on both sides of the river are lined with bottomland hardwoods, the habitat of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
• How You Can Help: Donate online
  Support our efforts to conserve this critical habitat for the ivory-bill and other species.
• Ivory-billed Woodpecker News
  See ivory-billed woodpecker photos, maps of the habitat of the ivory-bill, and other news and information about the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.