Status of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker at the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is an endangered species that is endemic to mature pine forests of the southeastern United States. In Arkansas it presently occurs only in pinelands of the Ouachita Province and Gulf Coastal Plain. Cavity trees for nesting and roosting must be mature pines diseased with red-heart fungus. Due to recent forestry practices mature pine stands are disappearing thus reducing numbers of needed cavity trees. The Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Arkansas contains high densities of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and because of favorable management priorities there the survival of the woodpecker seems assured. Populations of the species in other areas in southern Arkansas undoubtedly will decline