RedCockadedWoodpecker_PrivateLands_Rudolph_Craig_OxnardCA_20October2021_Reel4079.mp3

Craig Rudolph [00:00:00] There are a lot of problems with management for an endangered species on private lands.

Craig Rudolph [00:00:06] And probably one of the most intractable problems is land ownership.

Craig Rudolph [00:00:15] And it's remarkable, as the generations unfold in an area like eastern Texas, for instance, how often the land changes hands.

Craig Rudolph [00:00:26] And every time it changes hands, management, land use, visions change.

Craig Rudolph [00:00:33] And it's hard to develop a strategy to maintain habitat, especially one that requires, you know, a timeframe of many decades. I mean, you've got to continuously raise 100 year old plus trees.

Craig Rudolph [00:00:50] And if the land is changing hands every 20 or 30 years, that's a problem.

Craig Rudolph [00:00:56] So, while there were quite a few private ownerships with woodpeckers on them back in 1980, 1990, in Texas, most of those are now no longer supporting woodpeckers.

Craig Rudolph [00:01:14] So, I mean, the future of the red-cockaded woodpecker is on the large tracts of public lands, which are primarily the national forest.