Appendix 2-3
Chapter 2 The Need for Conservation
NCWRC works closely with private landowners where the colonies are located. Audubon North Carolina, the Coastal Land Trust, North Carolina State Parks, and The Conservation Fund collaborated with NCWRC to permanently conserve over 1,000 acres of Wood Stork breeding habitat with funding provided by the North Carolina Environmental Enhancement Grants Program, NC Land and Water Fund, and generous private support from Fred and Alice Stanback (Audubon NC 2024) . When the USFWS defined Wood Stork recovery criteria, the focus was on breeding success in the southern breeding areas because of its historical importance as the center and core of the breeding population. Since then, the Wood Stork population has continued to grow, expanding its breeding range to include new regions and using new habitat types. They are using human- made wetlands for colony sites and foraging throughout the breeding range, including sites close to developed areas and human activities.
In 2014, the USFWS announced plans for down- listing the Wood Stork from endangered to threatened under the ESA because conservation and recovery efforts over the past three decades were highly successful. The expansion of the Wood Stork’s breeding range, novel exploitation of other wetland habitat types to support breeding, and a dispersed population breeding in multiple regions and states, indicate that the species is now less reliant upon any one wetland ecosystem for viability.
Wood Stork (Dick Daniels, Creative Commons)
With the expansion of successful breeding colonies into North Carolina, the overall
breeding range extent and population size of Wood Storks has increased significantly since it was first listed for ESA protection. The USFWS reports that “the number of Wood Stork nesting colonies has more than tripled with the most recent survey in 2021 documenting 99 nesting colonies spread from Florida northward into North Carolina” (Bodine 2023) . In early 2023, the USFWS published their intent to remove the Southeast US distinct population segment (DPS) of the Wood Stork from the ESA list (see Federal Register Vol.88, No.31, 2023). This determination was based on evidence that this Wood Stork DPS has recovered and the threats to it are being adequately managed. “The Wood Stork is recovering as the result of protecting its habitat at a large scale,” said Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz . “ This iconic species has rebounded in part because dedicated partners in the Southeast have worked tirelessly to restore ecosystems that support it“ (USFWS 2023) .
To support continued recovery and population stability, Wood Stork population monitoring will not end when the species is delisted. A post-delisting monitoring plan will be completed by the
8 of 20
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator