Two species in one ecosystem: management of northern bobwhite and red-cockaded woodpecker in the Red Hills
This article is part of a larger document. View the larger document here.Abstract
Sport hunting for Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) is the reason that approximately 300,000 acres of semi-wild lands still exist in the Red Hills region of north Florida and south Georgia. Use of fire for management and relatively large (400 to 4,000 ha), contiguous land ownerships permitted populations of bobwhite and Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) to persist in the Red Hills as regional populations of these two species declined precipitously. Three factors play important roles in the habitat shared by these species: canopy cover, canopy tree species composition, and ground cover composition. These factors affect quality of fuel, which influences the occurrence of fire (ecological stability) and the costs of land management (economic stability). We used simple habitat models for these species to examine tradeoffs that optimize habitat conditions for each species. Maintaining conditions that enable healthy populations of both species to co-exist into the 21st century will require innovative management tools, including habitat restoration, and serious interest in conservation within the community of landowners.