The wood stork, which was on the brink of extinction in 1984, has recovered sufficiently in Southern states so U.S. wildlife officials have proposed removing the wading bird from the endangered species list.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a news release that restoration of the wood stork's habitat, especially in the Florida Everglades and adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve, led to a sharp increase in breeding pairs.
Those numbers had shrunk to just 5,000 pairs in 1984, whereas there are more than 10,000 pairs today.
In addition, the wood stork has increased its range in coastal areas of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas where they have tripled colony numbers in recent years.