Push to protect woodpecker may impact salvage logging

[XemaSab]

An environmentalist group has filed a petition urging state wildlife managers to put a woodpecker under California’s endangered or threatened species protection, a move that both environmentalists and timber officials say could drastically curtail salvage logging around the state.

Late last month, the Tuscon, Ariz., based Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition with the California Fish and Game Commission seeking protected status for the black-backed woodpecker.

“Just as the spotted owl demonstrated the ecological value of old-growth forests, the black-backed woodpecker is now showing us the importance of post-fire snag forests,” said Chad Hanson, a scientist with the John Muir Project, which teamed with the center to file the petition.

The birds nest and feed on beetles living in dead snags and burned trees. The bird’s name comes from its black feathers which, biologists say, have evolved to blend into the charred tree trunks on which it feeds.



http://www.redding.com/news/2010/oct/11/group-pushes-to-save-bird/

[eppur_se_muova]

1. It was habitat destruction that extirpated the ivorybill in NA.

For a truly excellent book (good read for adults or bright kids) see The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Phillip M. Hoose:

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=74-9780374361730-0