Endangered no more? Wood storks proposed to be delisted from Endangered Species Act
Feb. 16—The wood stork may find its way off the endangered species list if a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is approved.
The service said in a release this week that wood storks — the tall, bald-headed, long-beaked wading birds that live in the Golden Isles — have sufficiently recovered from near extinction in 1984 when the birds were first listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. At that time there were less than 5,000 nesting pairs primarily living in the Florida Everglades and Big Cypress ecosystems.
Today, the wood stork population has doubled to more than 10,000 nesting pairs while increasing its range into the coastal plains of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and North Carolina, the release said.
"The proposed delisting of the wood stork is a significant milestone and a testament to the hard wok by federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, conservation organizations, and private citizens in protecting and restoring our most at-risk species," Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in the release.
There were 29 nesting colonies in 1984; today there are 99, the release said.
Tim Keyes, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said the wood stork recovery has been noticeable and the proposal to delist indicates a positive trend for wood storks. He and other biologists will evaluate the wildlife service's opinion on the matter before providing comments to the service on the proposal as it pertains to Georgia's population.
"Due to conservation efforts, and frankly, due to the resiliency of the species, they have expanded," Keyes said.
At the time of the listing as endangered, wood storks were rarely seen north of central Florida and were highly concentrated in South Florida. In 1967, Georgia was home to one known wood stork nest. Today, Georgia hovers around 2,000 nests statewide, Keyes said.
Wood storks seek deepwater wetlands for nesting and shallow water wetlands for foraging. Georgia's coast provides excellent habitat for them because they can find nesting habitat and foraging grounds near each other, Keyes said.
Wood storks are tactile foragers, meaning they find food by moving through shallow waters with their beaks open, hoping to bump into food. This means they need prey concentrated into smaller areas to feed successfully.
Coastal Georgia's predictable and vast intertidal areas provide excellent foraging possibilities for wood storks to find shrimp, fish and other prey, Keyes said.
There are also nests in freshwater wetland areas in Southwest Georgia, he added.
The wildlife service said the recovery was spurred initially by efforts to protect the Everglades and to restore the ecosystem there.
"The wood stork is recovering as a 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 because dedicated partners in the Southeast have worked tirelessly to restore ecosystems, such as the Everglades, that support it."
If the delisting is approved, the Endangered Species Act requires the wildlife service to implement a post-delisting monitoring plan for a minimum of five years after delisting to ensure the population remains stable. Wood storks will also continue to be protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the protection of wetland habitats will continue under the Clean Water Act.
