The woodlands encountered by settlers in the early 1800s were open and parklike; fires set by native Americans and by lightning kept fast-growing shrubs and trees from overtaking slower-growing plants. But as more people arrived the woodlands, like the tallgrass prairie, were cleared with amazing speed. Now only small portions of this special habitat remain, and many of its animals and plants are endangered or extinct: gone forever.
Many people are working to restore and enlarge what remains so that woodlands can continue to support a rich wildlife community. In 2005, the rediscovery of the magnificent ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, in the Big Woods of Arkansas shows how important it is to conserve woodlands.