About 60 traders gathered in Tallahassee on Wednesday to haggle over a hot commodity. It wasn't petroleum or corn, but endangered woodpeckers.
Biologists representing state and federal agencies, the military and private landowners in four states met to decide which forested areas that need red-cockaded woodpeckers should get them.
Red-cockaded woodpeckers are endangered because much of the mature pine forests they depend on were cleared. Some areas, such as the Apalachicola National Forest, have enough of the birds to send them to other areas to help struggling woodpecker populations survive.
The woodpecker relocation meeting for Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi has been held in Tallahassee every year since 1998, said Ralph Costa, species-recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Although there was little haggling for woodpeckers Wednesday, he said, it didn't used to be that way.
"Those meetings used to wear me out," Costa said. "They would go on for two days. We didn't used to have nearly as many birds."
The White House this year is highlighting the annual woodpecker meeting as an example of "cooperative conservation."
President Bush a year ago signed an executive order directing federal agencies to implement cooperative conservation by involving companies, groups, agencies and individuals in decisions to protect the environment.
Some critics of Bush's record scoffed at the concept. Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope suggested last summer the president's order was a re-election ploy.
Bush also directed federal agencies to hold a national conference on cooperative conservation. The red-cockaded woodpecker cooperative effort is among the examples being featured at the conference in St. Louis from Aug. 29 to 31.
The woodpecker meetings have always been cooperative, Costa said. But they became less competitive in recent years when the group changed how the woodpeckers were allocated.
There used to be only about 20 pairs of woodpeckers available each year, and they came only from the Apalachicola National Forest.
This year there are 36 pairs available. Twenty are from the Apalachicola National Forest and the rest are from Fort Benning and Fort Stewart, both Army bases in Georgia, and Eglin Air Force Base in Northwest Florida.
To reduce competition among landowners, the group allows them to request birds only every other year. Landowners receiving the birds include the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge south of Tallahassee and The St. Joe Co. in Bay and Gulf counties.
The relocation of birds has been crucial to helping the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge boost its population near Sopchoppy in Wakulla County, said Joe Reinman, a refuge biologist.
The refuge has 49 red-cockaded woodpeckers today. But in 1984, it was down to only two birds - and both were male, Reinman said. Some woodpeckers were moved from St. Joe Co. land near Newport to help the birds rebound.
The St. Joe Co. received two birds in 2003 and received six last year to help boost the company's woodpecker population to 27 between two sites in Bay and Gulf counties, said Jim Moyers, a biologist with The St. Joe Co.
Even though the company isn't requesting birds this year, Moyers said he came to the meeting to give a status report on the St. Joe birds and to learn about other efforts across the region.
Moyers and others at the meeting said they haven't heard of the term cooperative conservation and were not sure what it's supposed to mean.
"I don't know if it has an official meaning," said Dan Sullivan, endangered-species coordinator with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "But agencies have been doing it for a while."
Moyers said: "All of us here are going to tell you conservation needs to continue no matter who is in office."
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THE RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER TRADE
Why they're endangered: They live in mature pine forests, many of which have been cut down.
Why relocate? Some areas have enough woodpeckers and are able to send birds to other areas to help other populations survive.
Why it's a good year: The Apalachicola National Forest was once the sole source, and only 20 pairs were available each year. This year 36 pairs are available. They live in places like the Apalachicola National Forest and around military bases in the region.Tallahassee Democrat
