Life Sciences Commons^™

Population Trends Of Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers In Texas, Richard N. Conner, Daniel Saenz, D. Craig Rudolph

Faculty Publications

We tracked population trends of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) in eastern Texas from 1983 through 2004. After declining precipitously during the 1980s, woodpecker population trends on federal lands (National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, but excluding the Big Thicket National Preserve) increased between 1990 and 2000, and have been stable to slightly decreasing over the past four years. Litigation against the U.S. Forest Service in the mid 1980s reversed a severe population decline, whereas litigation during the past 8 years hampered recovery efforts for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Red-cockaded Woodpecker populations on private and State of Texas lands have steadily declined …