U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

Stephanie Hanna (202) 208-3171


For Release:December 14, 1995

At a ceremony hosted by the Department of Defense on Friday December 15, 1995, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt will join Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Environment and Safety) Elsie Munsell and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regional Director Noreen K. Clough in unveiling a new endangered species poster at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The poster depicts Marines training in red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. The unveiling will take place at the Base�s Marston Pavilion at 12:45 p.m., and the ceremony is open to the public.

The poster, a combined effort of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the second in a series of posters that portray the compatibility of military training and endangered species conservation. The first poster depicting the western snowy plover, an endangered shorebird at Camp Pendleton, California, was unveiled in August 1994. A third poster is planned and will feature the desert tortoise.

This poster shows the American people that the courageous men and women of our Armed Forces can conduct the vital military training they need to protect our Nation while also protecting an endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker,� Babbitt said.

Munsell agreed, adding, "The Department of the Navy is proud of its record of good stewardship of the environment. We are equally proud of our partnership with the Interior Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as we work together to conserve and protect the precious natural resources entrusted to our care."

Camp Lejeune Commanding General Maj. Gen. Patrick G. Howard noted that the base possesses a superior environment for both training Marines and conserving habitat for rare, protected species. The restrictions on timber cutting and the prescribed burning that is conducted to suppress wildfires are examples of activities that both protect the red-cockaded woodpecker�s habitat and help to maintain this superior training environment for the Marines,� Howard said.

Camp Lejeune, which covers 150,000 acres, is the largest Marine Corps installation on the East Coast and is the host base for the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Its primary mission is to provide support facilities required to maintain the Force�s combat readiness.

More than 75 percent of the base remains forested and is home to 42 red-cockaded woodpecker groups. In 1985, when yearly woodpecker population monitoring began at Camp Lejeune, only 31 groups were found here. The red-cockaded woodpecker was placed on the Federal list of endangered species in October 1970, when it was discovered that timber harvesting had destroyed much of its natural habitat in the Southeast. Red-cockaded woodpeckers live in family groups, and all members of the group participate in caring for and rearing the young. The groups are non-migratory and highly territorial, roosting and nesting in live, old-growth pine trees. The red-cockaded woodpecker is the only North American bird species that excavates cavities in living pine trees. Today, nationwide, approximately 4,500 groups -- also referred to as clusters -- survive in 13 southeastern states from Virginia to Texas, and more than 70 percent of these can be found on Federal lands such as Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune.

A memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and three government agencies in North Carolina to cooperatively develop and sustain a viable RCW population in North Carolina�s coastal plain, is nearing completion. Under this proposed MOU, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, the Croatan National Forest and the State of North Carolina�s Holly Shelter Game Lands will cooperate in the recovery of the woodpecker. Their recovery objective is 299 clusters for all three properties. Based upon the desired woodpecker population density of 200 acres per cluster, Camp Lejeune�s woodpecker recovery goal is 149 clusters.

Military training at Camp Lejeune is a continuing process and often involves large numbers of troops, vehicles and aircraft. There are more than 50 live fire ranges, three major impact areas that are used for practice bombing and strafing, 56 designated training areas for tactical exercises and field training, and 4 miles of beaches that are used for amphibious training.

Under Camp Lejeune�s proposed Long Range Habitat Management Plan for the red- cockaded woodpecker, military activities are closely managed in areas where woodpeckers live and breed. Each cluster site containing woodpecker cavity trees is surrounded by a buffer zone that is 200 feet wide. Within these zones, vehicular and foot traffic are permitted along designated roads and trails and blank small arms firing is allowed. Activities prohibited from these areas include firing artillery within 600 feet, digging foxholes or burying cable, climbing, cutting or damaging any size pine tree, or using trees to install antennas.

Existing cluster sites average 38.5 acres. so presently less than 2 percent of the installation's total available land is affected. Even when recovery goals are met, it is estimated that only 5.2 percent of the Base's total land area will be designated woodpecker habitat.