Protection for Sierra’s 3-toed woodpecker sought
By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee
The black-backed woodpecker, a native of the Sierra Nevada, has just three toes, a yen for burned trees, and tremendous potential to shake up California logging rules.
Environmental groups recently filed a petition to protect the woodpecker under the state Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity and the John Muir Project at Earth Island Institute say the species may go extinct because California doesn’t have enough burned forests, the bird’s preferred habitat.
If the petition succeeds, private forest owners who experience a fire could have a harder time harvesting burned trees to produce lumber, a practice known as salvage logging.
California currently allows salvage logging under streamlined regulations so property owners can harvest the wood before it rots.
The environmental groups argue this deprives the black-backed woodpecker of essential habitat. The bird prefers to nest in burned trees, and feeds on insects that attack trees after a fire.
PGE use to give us 25cents for every woodpeacker we brought them when I was a kid,helped save power poles.
Environmental groups are too extreme anymore.
One of the people in the article said that what we’re doing now isn’t enough. It’ll never be enough for the the radical environmentalists who live for lawsuits that suck the taxpayers and businesses dry. It doesn’t matter to them how much we do for the environment. It is NEVER enough. We love birds. But the woodpecker won’t disappear. There will always be forest fires, and there will be enough unharvestable wood to supply habitat.
You know, people matter too.
We live in a world where it is NEVER ENOUGH with the radical enviromentalists.
Be careful, “They walk amoung us”.
I wish the environmentalists would be on the endangered species list.
This is ridiculous… What a waste of public and private money / time…
Oh puh-lease!! When will humans be put on the endangered list?