Skidaway Audubon News: Ft. Stewart Expert to Speak

Larry Carlile, Chief of the Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield Fish and Wildlife Branch, will highlight the challenges and successful efforts to protect threatened and endangered species at the military bases, as part of Skidaway Audubon’s ongoing speaker series.

The presentation is slated for Thursday, January 19, at 4 p.m. at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church (3 W. Ridge Road on Skidaway Island). Among the topics to be covered are the recovery of the red-cockaded woodpecker population, and management strategies to protect other rare species within a very active military installation. The red cockaded woodpecker, which surprisingly has just a few red feathers on its head, is a rare, endangered species found only in 11 states.

Carlile is responsible for the management and monitoring of state and federally protected rare, threatened, and endangered species including the smooth coneflower, bald eagle, wood stork, eastern indigo snake, frosted flatwoods salamander, and red-cockaded woodpeckers, as well as game species and sport fish within these dynamic bases.

A graduate of the University of Georgia School of Forestry and Natural Resources, he has been a wildlife biologist for the Department of Defense at Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield for the past 27 years. Carlile supervises a staff of 25 wildlife biologists, technicians, and contractors. He also is an avid birder, a member of the Ogeechee Audubon Society, and president of the Georgia Ornithological Society.

The presentation is free for Friends of Skidaway Audubon and $5 for guests. Donations are always welcome. For more information about Skidaway Audubon’s upcoming presentations and events, visit SkidawayAudubon.org.