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NORTH
CAROLINA
Village
of
Pinehurst
Since the 19th
century, longleaf pine forests have been heavily logged,
pushing the red-cockaded woodpecker to near extinction.
But the creation of Safe Harbor Agreements by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, which allow landowners who
agree to help protect endangered species on their property
to be except from certain provisions of the Endangered
Species Act, have helped to save the red-cockaded
woodpecker. The Pinehurst Resort (site of the 2005 U.S.
Open) was the first private landowner to take up a
Safe
Harbor
agreement to save the woodpecker. The resort agreed to
replant longleaf pines and to log their private forest
holdings near the resort with selective-cutting instead of
clear cutting. In return wildlife officials agreed that
Pinehurst and other landowners would not be subject to
increased limits on development. Biologists fostered the
regrowth of longleaf pines by burning competing
undergrowth. Today the red-cockaded woodpecker population
is estimated at 15,000! Source: Cooperative
Conservation America.
Related Materials for
North Carolina
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