The red-cockaded woodpecker is not actually red – except for a tiny, nearly invisible red streak on male birds at the upper border of their cheek. They’re mostly black and white. And they were one of the first federally-protected species – landing on the Endangered Species list in 1970 – three years after officials created the first list in 1967. (The Endangered Species Act had to wait until 1973.)
Red-cockaded woodpeckers are still on that list more than half a century later.
In North Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identifies 22 species as Threatened, 44 as Endangered, and 52 as At-Risk. Loggerhead and Green Sea Turtles are protected – along with varieties of plant such as Blue Ridge Goldenrod. The Green Pitcher Plant and the Hawksbill Sea Turtle show up on the Endangered list, and the Magnificent Ramshorn Snail – a small mollusk – despite its grand name and whom we met on this program nearly a year ago – is considered at-risk.
On this edition, we find out how biologists are helping some of these creatures to flourish and how researchers are exploring new ways to expand environmental literacy.
Guests:
Craig Ten Brink, Wildlife Biologist specializing in threatened and endangered species, Camp Lejeune
Troy Frensley, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Resources:
North American Association For Environmental Education
SciStarter -- a place for Citizen Scientists to find a project
