Current and future red-cockaded woodpecker habitat availability on non-industrial private forestland in North Carolina

摘要

We conducted a mail survey of 2,000 non-industrial private forest landowners (NIPFLs) in the Sandhills and lower Coastal Plain regions of North Carolina to determine the current condition and predict future availability of habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis, RCW) on non-industrial private forestland. Concern has been raised that the legal penalties under Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) create a disincentive among private landowners to provide habitat and manage RCW on their property. Section 9 prohibits the physical harming or killing of an endangered or threatened species as well as any modification or destruction of habitat that supports a federally listed species. We found that current habitat availability in terms of combined tract size and stand age was low, and shrinks considerably when the nominal level of habitat management occurring on these lands is factored in. The amount of RCW habitat that may be provided on private lands in the future has the potential to improve moderately due to an increasing level of habitat management that is currently occurring and a relatively stable outlook regarding respondents' forest management objectives for the next 25 years. However, stand age and habitat management should be increased in order to increase the amount of RCW habitat provided on private lands. Private lands, through the Safe Harbor Program and other incentives, could play an integral role in RCW recovery efforts by providing additional landmass as well as movement corridors among public lands.