Landmark Release of the Federally Listed Red-cockaded Woodpecker in Southwest Georgia

Matt Elliott, Wildlife Conservation Section chief in DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division, noted that Chickasawhatchee is the fifth state-owned wildlife management area with RCWs.

“When I started working for the Wildlife Resources Division in 2004, we had none,” Elliott said. “The change since that time reflects the recovery of the species that has been made through the hard work of our division’s staff and our partners on federal and private lands, and I am extremely proud of them.” 

Coordinated by DNR Senior Wildlife Biologist, Joe Burnam, five pairs of birds were captured and transported from Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia, supplemented by an additional two pairs from The Jones Center at Ichauway, to Chickasawhatchee WMA for a total of 7 pairs (7 females and 7 males). Fort Stewart is home to one of the largest populations of RCWs in the Southeast and has contributed to translocation efforts since the late 1990s. This is the first RCW release at the WMA. The translocated RCWs will be monitored to assess the conservation effort’s success. 

Current and former Jones Center biologists who managed Ichauway’s RCW population from 1999 until the present participated in the translocation. This is a full-circle moment for the Jones Center’s RCW program. In just over 25 years, the population grew from a single, male RCW in 1999 to 57 potential breeding groups (an estimate of 180 birds) in 2025 capable of contributing to translocation efforts. Center population recovery was made possible by numerous translocations between 1999-2015. Donor locations include the Apalachicola National Forest, Fort Stewart, Fort Benning Army Base, Eglin Air Force Base, Francis Marion National Forest, Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, and eight private properties in the Red Hills region. 

Brandon Rutledge and Zach Henshaw, Conservation Coordinator and Forestry and Wildlife Biologist, of The Jones Center at Ichauway remarked, “We are honored to play a role in the ongoing recovery of the species and to demonstrate excellence in natural resource management through the introduction of RCWs on Chickasawhatchee WMA. This represents what conservation should be all about: people working together across boundaries as positive stewards of natural resources.” 

And that effort has helped more than just a single species at the WMA. 

Brian Vickery, southwest Georgia region supervisor for DNR’s Game Management Section, said teamwork and years of habitat work including prescribed fire and timber thinnings have enhanced conditions at Chickasawhatchee for a variety of wildlife that benefit from open pinelands, from northern bobwhites and gopher tortoises to RCWs and white-tailed deer. 

“Quail management and woodpecker management go hand in hand,” Vickery said. “The deer population is also doing well – it’s an ecosystem approach.”