BC Conservation Data Centre: Conservation Status Report
Melanerpes lewis
Lewis's Woodpecker
| Scientific Name: | Melanerpes lewis |
|---|---|
| English Name: | Lewis's Woodpecker |
| Provincial Status Summary | |
| Status: | S2S3B |
| Date Status Assigned: | April 23, 2015 |
| Date Last Reviewed: | March 25, 2022 |
| Reasons: | Small populations, some in decline. Restricted range and habitat. Historical extirpation of coastal populations. Vulnerable habitat easily impacted by firewood cutting, urbanization, logging, fire suppression and western pine beetle outbreaks. |
| Range | |
| Range Extent: | G = 200,000-2,500,000 square km |
| Range Extent Comments: | The BC BBA identified breeding in the Souther Interior, Central Interior, and Southern Interior Mountains (Davidson et al. 2014, BBA 2008-2012, accessed 2015). A range extent estimate of 100 000 km2 was made by the LEWO Recovery Team (2004), This is low when one looks at where they were found during the BC Breeding Bird Atlas. The range provided here takes into account the uncertainty and that the total lies close to the cutoff between the two values. The areas of the province which it is known to breed includes: the Cariboo-Chilcotin, the Thompson-Nicola region, East Kootenay Trench, and Boundary-Grand Forks to south Okanagan (Cooper et al. 1998; Cooper and Beauchesne 2000; LEWO recovery Team 2004), and possibly the West Kootenay on occasion (Cooper et al. 1998). The largest numbers of breeding individuals occur in the following geographic regions of B.C.: Boundary, Okanagan-Similkameen and Thompson-Nicola, followed by the East Kootenay. Estimates for the Cariboo-Chilcotin region are expected to be low, and occurrence is rare in the West Kootenay (ECCC 2017). The Georgia Depression population is extirpated (Beauchesne and Cooper 2002) and recovery is not considered feasible(ECCC 2017). Finally, breeding has been reported in southwestern Alberta, but these are considered to be vagrant individuals (Semenchuk 1992) |
| Area of Occupancy (km2): | F = 126-500 |
| Area of Occupancy Comments: | COSEWIC (2010) estimated the IAO to be 500-2000 square km m(=125-500 occupied squares) based on 2x2 km grids on nest sites. The home range size for this species is unknown, however estimates range from 0.01km2 (=1ha, the low suggested by Resources Inventory Committee (RIC) (1999)) to a high of 3km2 (based on foraging distances from nests observed in the East Kootenay and elsewhere in the province (Cooper and Beauchesne 2000). . Elements are not evenly distributed across range, but rather are clumped in areas of suitable habitat (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004). Home ranges also overlap considerably in highly productive foraging areas, therefore an area of occupancy estimate based on a home range size multiplied by an estimated number of pairs, without considering overlap, will result in an overestimate. Area of Occupancy based on number of nesting pairs will likewise be an overestimate. |
| Occurrences & Population | |
| Number of Occurrences: | D = 81 - 300 |
| Comments: | Breeding bird atlas shows 142 10x10 km squares with breeding evidence in the province (Fraser and Ramsay 2015). The Lewis's Woodpecker is currently known to breed in four disjunct areas of the province. Within each of these regions, nest sites tend to be clumped in distribution and distances between groups of nests within a given region are sometimes greater than 5 km. If EOs are considered distinct if they are more than 5 km apart, then the the number of EO's is estimated to be about 100. |
| Number of Occurrences with Good Viability / Ecological Integrity: | D = 13 - 40 |
| Comments: | Nest sites in Black Cottonwood riparian areas or parkland Ponderosa Pines that have long term protection have good viability and may be used for 5 or more generations. Breeding habitat in burns is of a more temporary nature: there is an initial lag time between the burn and colonization, and the burnt area is likely viable for less than 40 years post-burn as the burnt nest snags are fragile and with time fall or are knocked over (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004). Burns are therefore usually viable for more than 5 generations from initial colonization, but would only be viable indefinitely if recruitment trees exist (e.g., neighbouring snags or live veteran trees). Some EOs in burnt habitat in British Columbia are nearing the end of their usefulness (e.g., Dutch Creek burn) while others should maintain good viability for another 5 generations or more (e.g., Finlay Creek burn) (Cooper and Gilles 2000). |
| Number of Occurrences Appropriately Protected & Managed: | D = 13 - 40 |
| Comments: | Many known breeding sites have been designated as Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs) for this species including: two in the East Kootenay Trench (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004, Antifeau 2005a,b); three in the Okanagan-Similkameen area (Dyer 2005a,b,c); and twelve in the Thompson-Nicola area (Iredale 2006a,b,c,d,e,f,g). Each of these WHAs encompass all or a portion of an existing EO. |
| Population Size: | D = 1,000 - 2,500 individuals |
| Comments: | Most recent estimate of the number of Lewis's Woodpeckers in BC is around 1200 individuals (CWS correspondence to COSEWIC 2020). Recent partners in flight population estimate is 4,000 individual(PIF, 2020) but that estimate is generally regarded as too high. Prior estimates (2020) were that fewer than 1000 individuals (<500 breeding pairs) are estimated to occur in the province. . The Lewis's Woodpecker is currently known to breed in four disjunct areas of the province: approximately 20 pairs breed in the Cariboo-Chilcotin; 75 pairs in the Thompson-Nicola region; 100 pairs in the East Kootenay Trench and 180 pairs in the Boundary-Grand Forks to south Okanagan (Cooper et al. 1998; Cooper and Beauchesne 2000; LEWO recovery team 2004). This species may also occasionally breed in the West Kootenay (Cooper et al. 1998) and formerly bred in the Georgia Depression, where it is now considered extirpated (Beauchesne and Cooper 2002), however there are scattered records on the south coast including photographs of immature birds (eBird accessed Feb 2021) and the species is at least accidental in the Georgia Depression and may possibly still be a rare breeder. |
| Threats (to population, occurrences, or area affected) | |
| Degree of Threat: | AB = Very high - high |
| Comments: | Loss and alteration of habitat is widely believed to be the greatest threat to this species throughout its range (Tobalske 1997; Fraser et al. 1999). Removal of dead and dying trees, for firewood, human-safety, aesthetic, or other reasons, may have the greatest negative impact to this species as existing or potential nest sites are lost and are not easily replaced (Fraser et al. 1999). Future and existing western pine beetle outbreaks in Lewis's Woodpecker habitat are a threat as they can destroy or limit the number of available nest trees. The western pine beetle attacks ponderosa pine trees, causing them to die and then fall usually one year after the attack (L. Maclauchlan, pers. comm. 2007). |
| Trend (in population, range, area occupied, and/or condition of occurrences) | |
| Short-Term Trend: | FG = Decline of <30% to relatively stable |
| Comments: | The BC BBS indicates a downward annual trend of 0.796 from 1970-2012 (28.5% change) (data quality: low, n routes: 14) (BC BBS Data version 2012). Based on a 3 year generation period (10 years or 3 generations) the Lewis's Woodpecker has declined by 8% over 10 years. In British Columbia, baseline population data for most areas are lacking (e.g., Cariboo-Chilcotin), or has only recently been collected (e.g., East Kootenay Trench) (Cooper and Beauchesne 2000), therefore trends cannot be determined for most areas (Cooper 1998; Beauchesne and Cooper 2004). The ecological integrity of existing habitat has been reduced in the short term, particularly in areas that have been subject to development pressure (e.g., the southern interior in the past decade). |
| Long-Term Trend: | D = Decline of 50-70% |
| Comments: | Breeding bird survey trend from 1970-2017 is -2.16 with an decline estimated as -64.2% (ECCC 2021). Breeding records indicate that the range has contracted from the west (the species is now extirpated as a breeding species in the Georgia Depression) and the northeast (Lewis's Woodpecker formerly bred in the Rocky Mountain Trench north to Golden, but they are no longer found in that area). Presumably it has also been restricted in other regions as the quantity and quality of suitable Lewis's Woodpecker habitat available in interior British Columbia has declined post-European occupation with the logging of ponderosa pine parkland areas, clearing of veteran ponderosa pines for firewood or other reasons, and the reduction of riparian black cottonwood habitats. For example, stands of old cottonwoods with adjacent grasslands along the South Thompson River, where the Lewis's Woodpecker used to be common, have been almost entirely eliminated (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004). A similar pattern has occurred along most of the Okanagan River (Cannings et al. 1987), but this woodpecker still occurs there in reasonable abundance. In the East Kootenay Trench, the Koocanusa Reservoir flooded riparian cottonwood and low elevation grasslands which were likely good habitats for Lewis's Woodpecker (Cooper et al. 1998). Fire suppression has resulted in significant losses of grasslands and open forest habitats (Hooper and Pitt 1995) in core Lewis's Woodpecker areas. More intensive agricultural practices and urbanization have also reduced habitat quality in rural areas (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004). |
| Other Factors | |
| Intrinsic Vulnerability: | BC=Moderately vulnerable to not intrinsically vulnerable. |
| Environmental Specificity: | A=Very narrow. Specialist or community with key requirements scarce. |
| Comments: | Relies on wildlife trees in very open forest or grassland habitats. Loss of suitable wildlife trees or infilling of grasslands eliminates habitat for this species. High quality nest sites are probably the main limiting factor in British Columbia. To date researchers have had little success getting this species to use nest boxes, a potential replacement for natural cavities. This bird requires a habitat feature (large dbh, partially decayed trees) that cannot easily be replaced (i.e., many years are required to attain a suitable size and for decay to set in). (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004). |
| Other Rank Considerations: | |
| Information Gaps | |
| Research Needs: | Banding of some local populations could provide information on dispersal and the extent of genetic exchange. This could help determine if sub-populations exist, or if there is mixing between the geographically disjunct groups in BC or adjoining states (LEWO Recovery Team 2004). The following ecological research could be conducted to support conservation measures: test the potential of nest boxes for use by Lewis's Woodpeckers, especially where burnt snag nest trees are being lost at a high rate (e.g., Newgate); test the potential of planted snags for nest sites where there are breeding concentrations; test the potential of fungal inoculation as a method of enhancing heartrot decay in potential nest trees;study nest success in various habitat types (e.g., parkland, versus riparian, versus recent burn), to help prioritize habitats for preservation (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004).The feasibility of restoration to both the Lower mainland and Vancouver Island requires further research (LEWO Recovery Team 2004). |
| Inventory Needs: | A full inventory for this species was done over 2 years in 2006 (Sawicz 2006, Luszcz and Sawicz 2007) and 2007 (J. Hobbs, pers. comm. 2008) and there was excellent coverage of the species for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas resulting in one of the highest confirmation of breeding for any species in the atlas (Fraser and Ramsay 2015). It would be ideal if ongoing periodic monitoring could be set up, especially for the population in the East Kootenays so that population changes may be detected. |
| Stewardship | |
| Protection: | Protect habitat through retention of riparian cottonwood stands, lightly treed grasslands, and open fire-maintained ponderosa pine forest. Protect known nest areas from firewood cutting. Measures to prevent western pine beetle from spreading to healthy ponderosa pine trees in Lewis's Woodpecker habitat may be required. |
| Management: | A Draft National Management Plan (Beauchesne and Cooper 2004) has been written and a Recovery Team has been established. Steps should be undertaken to implement the Management Plan. Suggested management practices include: Provide and recruit an adequate supply of suitable large diameter (>40 cm dbh) live and dead wildlife trees for nesting (Gebauer 2004). Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir are the most valuable tree species in this context. Where possible, maintain at least six standing dead trees/ha. Where it is not possible to retain six (> 40 cm dbh), retain largest available for the site. Use partial cutting silvicultural systems to maintain <10% canopy cover, late seral ponderosa pine. Replant with ponderosa pine. Where insect pests are a problem, employ biological control methods rather than insecticides. Management of high suitability habitat and maintenance or recruitment of high quality nesting (large diameter, mature ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir) is essential for the conservation of this species. Consider habitat restoration or enhancement techniques such as prescribed burning of understory vegetation to promote open pine stands. |
| Version | |
| Author: | S.M Beauchesne, J.M. Cooper, B. Niedzielski, L.K. Westering and L.R. Ramsay updated by D.F.Fraser |
| Date: | February 25, 2021 |
| References | |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for information on how the CDC determines conservation status ranks. For global conservation status reports and ranks, please visit the NatureServe website http://www.natureserve.org/.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2021. Conservation Status Report: Melanerpes lewis. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).