Town, woodpeckers fight over nest eggs

Moratorium debated, fails
To stop the rash of cutting, city commissioners proposed a one-year moratorium on lot-clearing permits. When they met Sept. 5, more than 60 people turned out — double the normal contingent.

They were rewarded with their first glimpse of the latest federal bird survey.

The glossy map divided the town into red-outlined woodpecker foraging areas, each containing at least one purple-shaded blob indicating a nesting cluster — 24 in all. Several entire neighborhoods were highlighted. The original map listed 437 lots that might be affected by a cluster; on the revised map, that number rose to 2,704 lots.

Now that the map is out, the city can’t issue a building or tree-clearing permit for any affected property without first running it by Benjamin’s office.

Both of Steve Lowery’s vacant lots were shaded purple. As the meeting convened, a flatbed truck was hauling away the last of the pines Lowery ordered cut from one of the properties.

“I get one lot, and the woodpeckers get the other one,” the construction company supervisor told the commissioners.

Lowery and others argued that since the new map dictated where cutting could occur, the city no longer needed the moratorium. But Commissioner Craig Caster, worried that landowners outside the current woodpecker zones would cut their trees to prevent the bird’s spread, begged for even a two-month halt.

“I feel like the city is getting raped of its trees,” he said.

The measure failed.

Fish and Wildlife is currently investigating a complaint in town. But Benjamin says the agency is willing to work with Boiling Spring Lakes to develop a workable habitat conservation plan that could involve, among other measures, moving some birds to property owned by the Nature Conservancy.

“At the end of the day, there’s nothing about this woodpecker issue that’s going to prevent anybody from doing whatever they want with their property,” he says.

Lowery wasn’t willing to take that chance.

“I like wildlife,” he says. “But I felt like 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing.”

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