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instead of being taken over by young pines
and hardwoods.” Red-cockaded
The Wilderness Area and its individu- woodpeckers live in ALAN SCHMIERER/FLICKR CC-BY
al management units are on a staggered open pine forests on
prescribed burn schedule to maintain the
open spaces between its towering pines the McCurtain County
and provide habitat for Oklahoma’s only Wilderness Area and
remaining population of federally endan- the adjacent Ouachita
gered red-cockaded woodpeckers. National Forest .
Barnes has taken part in manage-
ment efforts on the McCurtain County
Wilderness Area, the Wildlife Department’s
oldest management area, for about 20
years and has seen the benefits of pre-
scribed fire firsthand.
“Without fire, we would quickly lose suit-
able woodpecker habitat due to hardwood
and midstory encroachment,” Barnes said.
“We generally get enough annual rain-
fall, which promotes significant vegetative
growth, that we also need to do some level
of mechanical thinning on top of our regular
burn rotation.”
Red-cockaded woodpeckers live in and
forage for insects on mature shortleaf
pines, but they prefer an open pine for-
est with big trees spaced far apart. That
allows the birds to freely maneuver across
the habitat and better avoid predators like
raptors. Widely spaced trees also help prevent climbing snakes from
accessing the nest or roost trees by way of overlapping tree branches.
“Fire is a much more effective — and cheaper — management tool
than some of our other options for keeping
the forest open. It would take years to set
back as many growing saplings by hand or MARTJAN LAMMERTINK/USFWS
by machine as we can with one day of pre-
scribed fire.”

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM
WORK
A properly managed forest benefits
everyone, so the Wildlife Department joins
forces — and resources — with the adjoin-
ing National Forest Service on burn day.
Ignition and suppression crews from
Red-cockaded woodpeckers prefer habitats with clumps of trees for nesting along with open
both agencies work together to start the areas allowing quick escape from predators.

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