Military editor
Posted
Nov 16, 2018 at 3:57 PMUpdated
Nov 16, 2018 at 6:45 PM
For
decades, one of the most infamous residents of Fort Bragg has been a tiny bird.
The
red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered species that once threatened to put a
halt to training on the nation’s largest military installation.
Some
types of training did come to a stop as conservationists worked to save the
bird. And in the years since, military officials and the woodpeckers have
learned to co-exist.
The
result has been a growth in the local woodpecker population and inspiration for
Fayetteville’s new minor league baseball team.
Anna
Castillo made no mention of the red-cockaded woodpecker during a presentation
Thursday of rare and threatened species in the Sandhills.
Castillo,
a conservation planner for the North Carolina Sandhills Conservation
Partnership, chose instead to focus on other plants and animals that are not as
well known.
Speaking
to the Regional Land Use Advisory Commission, she warned that military and
local officials must work together to save a number of rare species in the
region.
“There’s
tons of information on the woodpecker,” Castillo told members of RLUAC, which
is a group of municipal and military leaders and conservationists who aim to
work together to address land use around Fort Bragg. “The goal here is to
prevent other species from becoming endangered.”
During
the meeting, Castillo presented information on a database that has compiled
nearly 200 species of plant, fish and other wildlife of concern in the
Sandhills. The database is built, in part, to help officials better manage
habitat where these species live, thus protecting their future.
Species
of concern have no legal protections, Castillo said. But they could eventually
become endangered if the destruction of their habitat is left unchecked.
Castillo
introduced officials to the Sandhills pyxie-moss, which is found only in the
Carolinas, and Boykin’s lobelia, a wetlands plant that produces small white and
blue flowers.
She also
spoke of two species of “significantly rare” butterflies — the dusky roadside
skipper and the frosted elfin — “They’re beautiful,” Castillo said — and a
small fish known as the pinewoods darter.
“The
Sandhills area is a biodiversity hot spot,” she said. “It is really a unique
place.”
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