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The Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve Reintroduces Endangered Bird

Restoration success creates high probability for restoring red-cockaded woodpecker population.

Poinciana, FL — October 12, 2007 — Nature Conservancy scientists released five pairs of federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers at The Disney Wilderness Preserve at dawn today in a carefully orchestrated and highly regulated effort to reestablish a population of the endangered bird in central Florida.

View a video on the recovery project.

Nature Conservancy scientists anticipate that The Disney Wilderness Preserve’s successfully restored longleaf pine habitat will offer the red-cockaded woodpecker the particular environment it needs to recolonize here. Red-cockaded woodpeckers, which once thrived in the old-growth forests of central Florida, prefer longleaf pine trees—specifically mature pines with heartrot. The loose core makes it easier to bore their nesting cavities into the trunks. However, for these first birds, the Conservancy science team installed man-made cavities into the trees ahead of time to provide the new birds with immediate shelter.

The Disney Wilderness Preserve is a 12,000-acre sanctuary of natural communities that sustains 17 endangered and threatened species. Located just south of Orlando at the headwaters of the Everglades ecosystem, the preserve is bordered by two large swamp systems and two lakes — Lake Russell and Lake Hatchineha. The Conservancy has owned, managed and worked on restoring the preserve since 1992. In an innovative approach to mitigation, the preserve was established through the cooperative actions of The Walt Disney Company, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, The Nature Conservancy and several public agencies.

“We’ve been working toward this day for 15 years. It’s great,” said Monica Folk, the lead scientist on the project. Folk and others traveled to Apalachicola National Forest to capture the 10 juveniles and fed them every 45 minutes prior to placing them in cavities last night.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. With funding from the voter approved Florida Forever program and our generous donors the Conservancy has helped protect more than 1.2 million acres in Florida since 1961.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.