How to Watch Birds—The Bird Conservation Scene

Lessons of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

There are many lessons in the exciting announcement of the re-discovery of the once-believed-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas, in the area of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge.

First, and most importantly, there is the lesson of hope, of an invaluable "second chance." It is an opportunity we American don't often get these days when dealing with the environment. When the announcement was made in Washington DC, many people spoke reverentially about a second chance. Ultimately, it's a second chance to redeem the habitat, the species and, implicitly, ourselves.

Colorized digital image of ivory-billed woodpecker at nest (based on 1935 photo).

© George M Sutton/Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Second, there is the lesson of the importance of broad conservation partnerships - federal government, state government, conservation organizations, dedicated citizens - all working together to save a damaged ecosystem and creating buffers and corridors between and among federal refuge, state park, forest, and private properties. A great deal has been written about the bird, but the bottom line is that the discovery, the survival, and the management of the bird and its habitat will be a collective effort, by leaders of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (especially involved with Endangered Species and the Refuge System), Arkansas Game and Fish, the Department of Agriculture, and many others. Teamwork and cooperation are the key driving forces here. The good news in the words of John Fitzpatrick of the Cornell Lab is that we've "passed the bottleneck," and we are in a situation where the habitat "can only get better." The emerging cooperation over the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas is a creative, regional, out-of-the box, and beyond-the-boundary example of wildlife conservation. Refuges will be core and absolutely essential to the effort, but will not be the only important land-management player.

Gene Sparling, who first saw the ivory-billed woodpecker in 2004, continues the search in the Cache River NWR.

© Mark Godfrey/The Nature Conservancy

Thirdly, there is the people-interest lesson. People are fascinated with the story and with the possibilities. Moreover, the Interior Department announced that it would "appoint members to a Corridor of Hope Cooperative Conservation team" and would also "appoint technical experts to assist the conservation team in writing a recovery plan." Among the "nine assignments" that must be considered is the following: "Help develop and implement plans to manage visitor access. Response to the rediscovery is expected to trigger increased interest from bird enthusiasts and researchers. The conservation team will carefully evaluate management actions for public access to ensure opportunities to see the areas where the bird has been sighted and to facilitate research without jeopardizing its survival." As the steps are worked out, bird enthusiasts need restraint and forbearance, and they need to assume a burden of responsibility. As many officials at the rediscovery press conference said, we "must not love the bird to death." (The point, after all, is not to see the bird but to save the bird.) If Ivory-bills have held out in remote Arkansas over all these decades in and around these two refuges (Cache River and White River NWRs), perhaps there are chances that they will continue to live, breed, and perhaps even spread in the future, relatively unmolested.

Big Woods Conservation Partnership project volunteer Jim Fitzpatrick and his dog Drake search for ivory-billed woodpeckers in the Cache River NWR.

Fourth, there is a lesson, a confirmation, that Duck Stamp dollars are not "just for ducks." Out of its current 56,000 acres, fully 43,816 acres, or over 77% of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge was acquired through funds that have come through the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation [Duck] Stamp. That cost was $38,057,436. Similarly, the nearby and much larger - at over 160,000 acres - White River National Wildlife Refuge has had 10,145 acres acquired through $5,254,645 from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, of which the Stamp is a major contributor. All these have been, clearly, fine investments.

The final lesson is one of deep refuge-system concern. In retrospect, it is not particularly surprising that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker had gone undiscovered for so long. The core property for this woodpecker rests within National Wildlife Refuge lands. With massive staffing shortages and a $2.7-billion funding backlog, the overall National Wildlife Refuge System is virtually unaware of its own resources. Despite the size and importance of the Refuge System to the conservation and recovery of species, refuges struggle daily to meet even the most basic needs. Two hundred of our 545 refuges have no staff whatsoever. Stunningly, half today lack even a staff biologist.

Painting of ivory-billed woodpecker on tree.

President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, Evan Hirsche, asked the right question once the rediscovery was announced: "How many additional surprises await discovery - or, more likely, will be extinguished - on our refuges, simply because the money isn't available to do an adequate job?" Had we had adequate biological inventory at Cache River National Wildlife Refuge and the White River National Wildlife Refuge, perhaps the recovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker could have started a decade ago. [For the NWRA statement on this aspect of the refuges and the Ivory-billed discovery, click here.]

Fortunately, we birders, conservationists, friends of refuges, policy-makers, and people of good will may now have that "second chance" elsewhere in the refuge system if we learn the lessons and fund the refuges adequately.

In the meantime, there are many websites devoted to the wonder, appreciation, and survival of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. Here are two that are highly informative: http://www.ivorybill.org and http://www.fws.gov/cacheriver/.

More Bird Conservation Information

Bird conservation is both dynamic and fascinating. There are many exciting ways you can get engaged - at your favorite refuge and elsewhere. And it doesn't take an "expert" to do so; in fact, skill-building and contributions to bird conservation are best achieved in tandem. To review other aspects of the current ongoing bird-conservation scene, you can visit our other bird conservation webpages or visit All about Birds, a website project between Swarovski and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.