The black-backed woodpecker may be protected in two locations as a threatened or endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The bird depends on fire-killed stands of trees and feeds on the outbreaks of wood-boring beetles found on recently burnt snags. It can also use stands of snags that have been killed by beetles. The woodpeckers nest in the dead trees and feast off of the wood-boring beetle larvae.
The agency is considering protecting it in California, Oregon, and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
This may be the first time that the Endangered Species Act has been used to protect a wildlife species that depends on stands of fire-killed trees.
There are approximately 1,000 pairs in Oregon and California, and about 400 pairs in the Black Hills.
The FWS is seeking more information about the black-backed woodpecker before they make a decision about listing it as threatened or endangered. A comprehensive review will occur when funding becomes available. The process was triggered by petitions from John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
Over the course of 06, 07, and 08, the Klamath NF had numerous large fires leaving well over 100,000 acres blackened. The black-backed woodpecker was raised as an issue when the Forest proposed small timber salvage operations in 07 and, I’d guess, in 08 again. The footprint of the salvage sales was miniscule compared to the burned acres, a substantial amount of which had standing timber usable by the woodpecker.
Perhaps I’m a bit jaded, but I see the listing as nothing more than an end run to stop any salvage operations at all – even small ones as the KNF attempted. Is there a lack of habitat for the bird? With the number of fires and the limited salvage operations that have occurred, I can’t see how lack of habitat would be an issue (this is admittedly an assumption on my part, but I think it’s realistic).
Don, it would also appear that there is plenty of habitat available in the Black Hills. A recent survey revealed that the mountain pine beetle has infested 416,000 acres on the Black Hills National Forest since the first signs of the outbreak in 1996.