RedCockadedWoodpecker_NestboxesandDownlisting_Holder_MaryRuth_SkagitValleyWA_27August2021_Reel4068.mp3

Mary Ruth Holder [00:00:00] Restoration has got to happen. And restoration is going to require human intervention.

Mary Ruth Holder [00:00:07] But it's those artificial nest cavities, or cavity boxes, that I think bother people.

Mary Ruth Holder [00:00:15] And there was a 2020 proposal to downlist the species from endangered to threatened under the Trump administration. And, looking at that, and I haven't read that rule thoroughly, but definitely that downlisting is relying on those cavity boxes.

Mary Ruth Holder [00:00:40] Well, do you really say something is recovered if it's living in cavity boxes, you know, versus letting, letting trees grow up, letting them have access to trees that they could, trees with red heart fungus, longleaf pines.

Mary Ruth Holder [00:01:00] What, will it ever really be independent? Can it live independent of those kinds of activities?

Mary Ruth Holder [00:01:12] On the other hand, one of the things that, in reviewing what was happening now, kind of gave me hope, and it's sort of poignant, is the, all of the efforts of all of the people, people who obviously love these birds, they love the species, all the efforts, you know, man-made or not, to try to save them.

Mary Ruth Holder [00:01:37] That's, that's a positive thing.