Key Partnership Leads to Conservation Victory

Red cockaded woodpecker at nest hole in a longleaf pine tree.
© USFWS

A Win-Win Situation

The red-cockaded woodpecker, a small non-migratory bird that makes its home in living pine trees, was listed as endangered in 1970.

Tad Davis, the Army's deputy assistant secretary reports that because of the birds' endangered status, Fort Bragg, along with seven other Army posts, had lost almost 1 million acres of training land for woodpecker habitat.

This recovery—the first ever recorded for the species—will mean a reduction in training restrictions on Fort Bragg.

Longleaf pine forests provide critical habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers and a host of other plants and animals.

© Mark Godfrey/TNC

Endangered woodpecker species recovered at Fort Bragg

In June 2006, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the recovery of the North Carolina Sandhills population of the federally-endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The recovery goal was met five years earlier than anticipated.

In 1992 the Sandhills East population of the woodpecker on Fort Bragg stood at 238 clusters (family groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers). Today, through partnerships formed with state, federal and private conservation groups that number has risen to 368 clusters. These numbers include groups of birds found on private, partnership and state lands that surround Fort Bragg.

NC Sandhills Conservation Partnership crucial to RCW recovery

Reaching this population recovery goal—the first ever documented for this bird species—was possible because of strong partnerships developed and innovative conservation plans.

In August 2005, the North Carolina Sandhills Conservation Partnership was recognized at the White Conference on Cooperative Conservation as one of the first partnerships in the nation between the Service, the Department of the Army, state agencies and private conservation groups. The partnership is comprised of: the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, the U.S. Army Environmental Center, the Service, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, The Nature Conservancy, the Sandhills Area Land Trust and the Sandhills Ecological Institute.

To date, the partnership has conserved more than 12,000 acres of land, through fee-simple purchase or purchase of conservation easements. The partnership hosted a conservation summit in conjunction with the celebration to premiere a draft conservation plan for the Sandhills. This plan contains strategies for land conservation and management. It is designed to ensure the long-term health and integrity of the Sandhills longleaf pine ecosystem, which red-cockaded woodpeckers and many other species rely on for their survival.

Fort Bragg becoming a leader in conservation

"Fort Bragg has been a leader in coming up with innovative ways to partner with private, federal and state agencies in order to meet their recovery responsibilities for the red-cockaded woodpecker," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall said. "Over the past 15 years, the positive relationships forged between these Sandhills partners transformed an atmosphere rife with conflict into one of collaboration. Now, with recovery of this population, most training restrictions will be removed."

Fort Bragg Garrison Commander Colonel Al Aycock and Addison (Tad) D. Davis, IV, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health, were a few of the leaders praising the collaborative approach to recovery taken by these partners and the positive effect recovery will have on training restrictions. Both the Army and the Service have exported lessons learned in the Sandhills to other installations and other species recovery efforts across the country.

"This recovery validates the success of the Army's ongoing sustainability efforts, demonstrates our commitment to preserve precious natural resources, such as the long leaf pine ecosystem of the Sandhills, and amplifies what we can achieve by working together with community partners," said Davis. "Equally important, this accomplishment allows the young men and women of our great Army to conduct tough, realistic training."

"Fort Bragg has set a standard here that is really being followed across the country at at other military installations", said Hall of the Service.

"Fort Bragg currently spends more than one-third of its annual $6 million natural resources budget on endangered species,"added Terry Myers, natural resources division chief.