Woodpecker Recovery, Skullcap Discovery

Two Rare Species Trending in Opposite Directions

For red-cockaded woodpeckers, life is looking up.

These perky, family-focused woodpeckers of mature southeastern pinelands - they're our nation's only woodpecker that excavates cavities in living pines - had been federally listed as endangered for 50 years. Yet late last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downlisted them to threatened.

Their recovery from an estimated 1,470 family groups in the 1970s to about 7,800 from Virginia to Texas today reflects decades of work by government agencies, nonprofits and private landowners.

Georgia mirrors that outlook and effort. The number of red-cockaded woodpecker family groups here "is now well north of 1,500," said Joe Burnam, Georgia DNR's lead biologist for the species.

The success story ranges from military lands like Fort Stewart, where controlled burns and "recruitment" clusters of artificial nest cavities inserted in trees are helping the population grow, to southwest Georgia quail properties enrolled in Safe Harbor, part of a U.S.-first habitat conservation plan that DNR developed in 1999 for the woodpeckers and private landowners.

Burnam said the downlisting keeps federal protections in place and will not affect DNR conservation practices in the state. "We'll continue to do what we've been doing … managing for the birds (and) their habitat."

Habitat loss and degradation, a combo that landed the woodpeckers on the Endangered Species Act list, remain the leading threats. For example, Hurricane Helene wiped out over 40 percent of the nest cavity trees at Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area and Natural Area near Baxley.

But new cavity inserts have already been chainsawed into pines, and others will be added, Burnam said.

For Ocumulgee skullcap, the big picture is less promising.

In 2022, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing Scutellaria ocmulgee as federally threatened. But the surveys that followed indicated the plant is closer to the brink than thought. The updated proposal is to list the species as endangered; that is, in immediate danger of extinction in all or a large part of its range.

And the range isn't large. The showy perennial known for its purple-white petals shaped like a medieval skull cap (or maybe a vintage leather football helmet) is known from only 10 Georgia counties in the Ocmulgee and Savannah River basins and two South Carolina counties along the Savannah.

DNR senior botanist Lisa Kruse said the reassessment isn't surprising because fieldwork spurred by the initial listing proposal found that some plants first identified as Ocmulgee skullcap were actually Mellichamp's skullcap (Scutellaria mellichampii). Although also rare, Mellichamp's is more common than its Ocmulgee kin.

The extra attention provided the chance to "really drill down and distinguish the species," Kruse said. The insight is key, she added, noting that these critical studies of Ocmulgee skullcap were led by the late DNR botanist Tom Patrick and South Carolina DNR's current lead botanist, Keith Bradley.

"We often don't know what kind of genetic diversity is out there," Kruse explained. "It's important (to know) for decisions that guide conservation."

Ocmulgee skullcap is limited to calcium-rich soil and found on mesic, or moist, hardwood slopes. Endangered fringed campion and relict trillium favor the same habitat. Threats to skullcap include the loss of these forests to development and pine plantations, plus competition from invasive plants such as Japanese honeysuckle and the very real risk of being eaten by deer or wild hogs.

Thankfully, some state lands have Ocmulgee skullcap, Kruse said. The federal listing and identification of critical habitat will provide support needed to conserve the species, including outreach, research and work with private and public partners.

LEARN MORE

DNR's Biodiversity Portal provides profiles of rare animal and plant species in Georgia.

Top: Red-cockaded woodpecker (Martjan Lammertink/USFS)

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