Forest Fire Threatens Rare Woodpeckers

Firefighters have contained roughly 25% of a raging fire in the Kisatchie National Forest, but state forestry officials Thursday said the blaze that has destroyed 2,500 acres of wilderness now threatens colonies of woodpeckers.

A wildlife expert began an effort to save the nests of about 50 endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers that are in the path of the fire.

“We already know of one colony we’ve lost,” said Sam Logan, a dispatcher at the U.S. Forest Service command center in Natchitoches.

Miles of white, billowing smoke hung over the forest as more than 200 firefighters returned to the remote wooded area where burning trees had smoldered all night.