The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is recommending the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) be downlisted from endangered to threatened, thanks to decades of restoration efforts by public agencies and private companies across the Southeast.

The announcement was made today during an event at Fort Benning, Georgia.

“The milestone we are making today is significant for species conservation,” said David Bernhardt, U.S. secretary of the Interior. “Species don’t care about jurisdictional boundaries or different laws. They need and want our on-the-ground results. This is a very good thing for America.”

The RCW was placed on the USFWS Endangered List in 1970 after its U.S. population had fallen below 10,000, well below the more than one million estimated during the 16th century. Decades of habitat disruption, including the loss of millions of acres of longleaf pine forests, contributed to the species decline, but today the RCW population is increasing, thanks to coordinated management plans administered in the 11 states across the Southeast, including Alabama.

“The partnership we have between these agencies is really a hand-and-glove type of relationship,” said Sonny Purdue, secretary of Agriculture. “It’s a real honor to work together. The population is flourishing.”

Alabama Power helping red-cockaded woodpecker thrive from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

Alabama Power’s Lake Mitchell is one place where the bird’s numbers are slowly on the rise. Alabama Power has worked closely with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) and the USFWS since the 1980s to manage more than 1,600 acres of old-growth longleaf pines surrounding Lake Mitchell. The collaborative partnership and land management has increased the survivability of the RCW species.

“The relationship between Alabama Power Company and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alabama Field Office is outstanding and based on trust and professionalism,” said Jeff Powell, deputy supervisor of the USFWS Alabama Field Office. “We have made great things happen together, including downlisting the tulotoma snail from endangered to threatened; enhanced protections for species like the flattened musk turtle, Black Warrior waterdog and rough hornsnail; improving red-cockaded woodpecker habitat; reintroduction of several rare mollusk species; and more.”

The red-cockaded woodpecker is making a slow, but steady comeback in the old longleaf pine forests around Lake Mitchell. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

The woodpeckers are banded as babies so that biologists can track their movements and follow their life cycle. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

The biologists say the ultimate goal of their work is to get the birds delisted as an endangered or threatened species. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

A longleaf forest on Alabama Power land near Lake Mitchell. (Dennis Washington / Alabama News Center)

More than 15 clusters of red-cockaded woodpeckers are located around Lake Mitchell in central Alabama. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

Chad Fitch, Mercedes Bartkovich and Eric Soehren hike into the forest to monitor a red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

Chad Fitch (left) and Eric Soehren inspect a material used to prevent snakes from climbing trees. The snakes are a predator to the red-cockaded woodpecker. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

Eric Soehren prepares to retrieve a baby woodpecker from a tree cavity. Soehren coats the filament with corn starch to keep it from sticking to the sap inside the tree. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)

Alabama Power entered Lake Mitchell into a Safe Harbor Agreement with ADCNR in 2009. Chad Fitch, a biologist at Alabama Power, says the agreement outlines specific monitoring and restoration plans, including prescribed burning, mid-story clearing and artificial RCW cavity installations. Mid-story clearing removes the layer of vegetation between the tallest and smallest trees.

“This is a vast group effort, not only in the state of Alabama but also all across the Southeast and the East Coast,” Fitch said. “Folks have managed their lands by conducting prescribed burnings and artificial cavity installations to help maintain the viability of RCW clusters.”

Currently, 11 breeding pairs of the species reside on Alabama Power property, up from eight in the 1990s. Fitch says the population growth of the species and the recommended downlisting by USFWS is proof the project works.

“Alabama Power employees have had the privilege of helping this local population expand,” Fitch said. “Alabama Power is committed to the continued management of these forests to ensure RCW populations continue to grow and thrive for years to come.”