The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a final rule (pdf) reclassifying the U.S. breeding population of the wood stork (Mycteria americana) from endangered to threatened.

According to the Service, when the wood stork was listed as endangered in 1984, the population was decreasing at a rate of five percent per year. The Service now reports that the U.S. breeding population has increased its number of nesting pairs, and has expanded its breeding range.

Wood storks use a variety of freshwater and estuarine wetlands for nesting, feeding, and roosting. The Service’s downlisting acknowledges the positive impact that collaborative conservation efforts for the species’ habitat have had on the status of the breeding population. For example, the Wetlands Reserve Program has restored more than 200,000 acres of wetlands in Florida and more than 115,000 acres in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.