years of age and older are 

 needed to sustain a single 

 colony. As a result, over 

 250,000 acres of mature 

 southern pine timber are 

 currently subject to 

 management restraints to 

 favor this species. 

 Curtailment of harvesting is 

 expected to reduce timber 

 sales over 200 million board 

 feet annually if rotations are 

 extended beyond 80 years. 

 The goal of the recovery 

 plan is to double the 

 Nation's red-cockaded 

 woodpecker population, to 

 over 4,000 colonies (USDA 

 Forest Service 1985a). 



The RPA Assessment and 

 Program 



program not later than 

 December 31, 1975, to 

 cover the 4-year period 

 after October 1976 and the 

 following four decades 

 inclusive. 



The results of the initial and 

 subsequent assessments 

 and the timber resource 

 management opportunities 

 and alternatives available to 

 the national forests are 

 reflected in (1) the final 

 environmental impact 

 statement and the resource 

 planning standards and 

 guidelines issued by the 

 Southern Region in 1982 

 and (2) the land and 

 resource management 

 plans developed by the 

 respective forests. 



The Forest and Rangeland 

 Renewable Resources 

 Planning Act was enacted 

 on August 17, 1974. Known 

 as the RPA, this act directed 

 the Forest Service to make 

 an assessment of renewable 

 resources on all the national 

 forests. 



It was amended and 

 supplemented by the 

 National Forest 

 Management Act of 1976. 

 The first assessment, due 

 at the end of 1975, was to 

 be updated in 1979 and 

 every 10th year thereafter. 

 The act also required the 

 agency to develop a 

 renewable resources 



The Eastern Wilderness 

 Act 



Enacted January 3, 1975, 

 the Eastern Wilderness Act 

 authorized adding to the 

 National Wilderness 

 Preservation System areas 

 from national forest lands 

 in the Eastern States. It 

 designated and added to 

 the system approximately 

 115,117 acres in nine 

 national forests in Alabama, 

 Florida, Georgia, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Tennessee, and Virginia. 



This legislation was a 

 significant departure from 



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