The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has announced a plan to reintroduce the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW), a species driven out of Tennessee over three decades ago due to fire suppression, logging of old-growth pines, and habitat fragmentation. The last known sighting of the bird in Tennessee was in 1994 in the Cherokee National Forest. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker project started through TDEC’s restoration of land in the Savage Gulf State Natural Area after biologists realized the large tracts of land could potentially support the threatened bird species. All agencies involved have a completion goal and release of these woodpeckers in 2028. (Photo courtesy TWRA).
