Alleviating conflicts between army training and endangered species at fort bragg

AbstractThe second‐largest endangered red‐cockaded woodpecker (Piciodes borealis) (RCW) population in the world is located in the Sandhills physiographic region of North Carolina. The majority of the RCWs are located on the Ft. Bragg Military Installation. Ft. Bragg is working toward species recovery by conducting intensive cavity enhancement, RCW tree monitoring, RCW breeding surveys, growing season burns, and midstory reduction. However, significant barriers to recovery exist. The RCWs occur in two smaller‐than‐viable populations, one primarily on Ft. Bragg and surrounding private lands, the other on Camp Mackall and the state‐owned Sandhills Game Lands. Camp Mackall is separted from Ft. Bragg by a 10‐kilometer gap of private and state landholdings. Cooperation among private, federal, and state landowners is necessary to reestablish and maintain habitat for linkage between the Camp Mackall and Ft. Bragg populations. Dispersal between populations is required to ensure genetic interchange, increase population stability, and fcilitate recovery of the Sandhills population. A regional working group consisting of personnel from federal, state, and private conservation organizations has been established to develop and coordinate a conservation strategy for the North Carolina Sandhills. Current initiatives include: (1) safe harbor habitat conservation plan; (2) public outreach programs; (3) cooperative research agreement between the Army and the National Biological Survey; and (4) cooperative agreement between the Army and The Nature Conservancy. The future of military training at Ft. Bragg is linked to recovering endangered species, precluding the need to list additional species as endangered, and sustaining the longleaf‐wiregrass ecosystem of the region.