Archive for October 2012

This Thanksgiving season we will be celebrating with another bird in mind, the Endangered Red-cockaded woodpecker.  This wide ranging species has been reduced to pockets of habitat that are vital for its survival.  One of those habitats is found in Mississippi on the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge.  

This year Wild South filed a lawsuit with Greenfire Law, the Center for Biological Diversity, and long-time Noxubee volunteer Margaret Copeland to put an end to the mismanagement of the Noxubee that had resulted in a significant and steady decline in the bird’s numbers.  Of critical concern was the Service’s efforts to push the Refuge into an unnatural, even-aged checkerboard managed through clearcutting which removed the old trees upon which the woodpecker depends.  The primary responsibility of our National Wildlife Refuge system is to help the recovery of endangered species.  It was clear to us that this responsibility was not being met on the Noxubee and we and our partners stepped in to change that.