Trail Closure Notice Effective 4/1/2021 - 7/31/2021

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX -- Effective 4/1/2021 - 7/31/2021 numerous trails on the W.G. Jones State Forest will be closed to the public due to Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) nesting season. These trails are highlighted on the attached map. Please obey posted closures and do not enter RCW cluster boundaries.

Once fairly common in the southeastern United States, this bird is now rare, local, and considered an endangered species. It requires precise conditions within mature pine forest, a habitat that is now scarce. Lives in isolated clans, each clan an extended family group, with one pair of adults assisted in their nesting by up to four additional birds. The red cockade for which the bird is named, a small patch of feathers behind the eye of the male, is usually hard to see in the field.

For more information, please contact the Texas A&M Forest Service - Conroe District office at (936) 273-2261 or jonesstateforest@tfs.tamu.edu.

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