Dead trees, biodiversity, and the black-backed woodpecker by
Marian Lyman Kirst The ruins of scorched or beetle-killed
forests may not seem like ecological havens. But myriad species
depend on standing dead or dying trees, including the black-
backed woodpecker, which haunts skeletal forests in the West,
Alaska and Canada. Its ebony dorsal plumage blends in with the
charred tree trunks on which the bird rummages for juicy wood-
boring beetle grubs, its principle prey. The beetles are also
adapted to scorched forest habitat; some species, called "fire-
chasers," can detect forest fires as far as 30 miles away, using
specialized heat receptors. They arrive in droves, mate, and lay
eggs under the burned trees' bark. When the larvae hatch, they
freely chew away at the defenseless trees. But fire suppression,
thinning and salvage logging on federal lands may be destroying
this unique snag habitat. Fewer than 1,000 pairs of black-backed
woodpeckers persist in Oregon and California, and fewer than 500
in South Dakota's