Coming Soon…, November 2017

Katerie Gladdys and Douglas Barrett in cooperation with and with special thanks to Steve Reagan, Project Leader, Choctaw and Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee NWRs

Red-cockaded Woodpeckers were once considered common throughout the Southern pine ecosystem, which covered approximately 90 million acres before European settlement. The birds inhabited the open pine forests of the southeast from New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia to Florida, west to Texas and north to portions of Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. Many pine forests have all but disappeared due to European settlement, widespread commercial timber harvesting and the naval stores/turpentine industry in the 1800’s. Early to mid-1900 commercial tree farming, further destruction of forests due to urbanization and agriculture contributed to further declines in the RCW population landing them on the endangered species list. Much of the current habitat is also very different in quality from historical pine forests in which RCWs evolved.

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is very particular about the trees and forests they inhabit. The woodpeckers prefer pine trees aged sixty and over and unlike other woodpecker species build nests in living trees infected with red heart rot. Red heart rot does not kill the pine tree, affecting only the physiologically inactive heartwood. Additionally, the RCW prefer pine forest that does not have a lot of understory created by immature hardwoods and brush. Both prescribed and naturally occurring fires maintain the southern pine ecosystem keeping the woodlands open for nesting and foraging for food. Today, many southern pine forests are considered timber plantations where trees are planted close together and not subjected to regular burnings resulting in a dense pine/ hardwood forest.

Creating habitat for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker is a priority for the United States federal wildlife refuges in the southeastern US. “Restoring” a mature pine forest to presettlement condition initially involves locating and mapping mature pine species suitable for RCW nesting sites, removing young hardwood trees and brush followed by prescribed burning. Prior to European settlement, Native Americans and natural processes such as fires started by lightning kept these pine ecosystems healthy. The mission of US wildlife refuges is conservation and preservation of wildlife and their ecosystems. Wildlife refuges serve their communities as places of recreation. Presentday communities and stake holders that surround the refuge often use these lands for hunting and recreation as well.

Balancing the missions of conservation and public engagement can often be challenging

Coming Soon…, 2017

Documentation of an intervention at Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, Brooksville, MS; mixed media and silkscreen and text pamphlet

Courtesy of the artists when the community is not informed or educated about the landscape changes even if those changes benefit ecosystem biodiversity. When understory and brush are cleared to make way for Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat, citizens often are alarmed and a lack of explanation of this process can potentially create conflict between the refuge and communities that they serve.

At Sam D. Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, loblolly pines form an ecosystem critical to Red-cockaded Woodpecker conservation. The average lifespan of a Loblolly pine is 120-150 years. At Noxubee, many of the pines where the RCW live are approaching the end of their life span necessitating the development of new nesting habitats on land that will need to be cleared of brush and small trees. Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge is a local and regional destination for hunting, hiking and watching wildlife.

In collaboration with refuge personnel, an artist and a designer created the project, Coming Soon…, responding to the need to alert and inform the public about land that potentially will be developed as RCW habitat in a way that inspires curiosity and support for this important process. Initially, the refuge surveys land to determine potential Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat. Mature Loblolly pine trees whose circumference is greater than the arm span of an adult, are identified. Literally, if one cannot hug the tree, then the pine is tree is old enough to be a nesting site.

The team then designed a poster of a Redcockaded Woodpecker image scaled three to four times larger than the size of an actual RCW for visual impact on passing vehicles and pedestrians. The posters are printed on cotton paper that is not only durable, but also biodegradable for minimal environmental impact. The woodpecker posters are then affixed to pines that potentially could serve as nesting sites. Aluminum nails which do not damage the trees were used. The resulting installation of posters in the forest is visible from the road and alerts passerby of future changes in the landscape. The artwork reminds the public of the importance of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker as a keystone species in southern pine forests.