Rare Woodpecker Sends a Town into Complete Panic

The folks in Boiling Spring Lakes, NC are scared. There is a resurgence of a rare woodpecker that was on the endangered list. Last I checked this was a good thing. This means we are helping the environment in some areas and preserving a priceless treasure for future generations. Seems that the folks living in this town think that if they are declared "woodpecker land" they will lose there homes and get thrown out of the area. Well, this is just not true in fact they have been told explicitly that as long as the woodpeckers have trees to live in, the town will be able to continue to build and expand just with better planning.

Weeellllll these geniuses just don't believe them I guess, so what's the answer? Cut down every freaking tree you can see. Of course, that make perfect sense! AAaahhhhhh.

Read the whole sad story here.... LINK

The chain saws started in February, when the federal Fish and Wildlife Service put Boiling Spring Lakes on notice that rapid development threatened to squeeze out the woodpecker.

The agency issued a map marking 15 active woodpecker “clusters,” and announced it was working on a new one that could potentially designate whole neighborhoods of this town in southeastern North Carolina as protected habitat, subject to more-stringent building restrictions.

Hoping to beat the mapmakers, landowners swarmed City Hall to apply for lot-clearing permits. Treeless land, after all, would not need to be set aside for woodpeckers. Since February, the city has issued 368 logging permits, a vast majority without accompanying building permits.

The results can be seen all over town. Along the roadsides, scattered brown bark is all that is left of pine stands. Mayor Joan Kinney has watched with dismay as waterfront lots across from her home on Big Lake have been stripped down to sandy wasteland.

“It’s ruined the beauty of our city,” Ms. Kinney said. To stop the rash of cutting, city commissioners have proposed a one-year moratorium on lot-clearing permits.