English: The Louisiana pine snake is a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Populations of the Louisiana pine snake appear to have declined alarmingly, both in numbers and in range. A significant factor influencing the snake’s current status is the loss or modification of longleaf and shortleaf pine forests. Those ecosystems, which are home to the Louisiana pine snake, have been dramatically reduced by changes in land use and timber management to short-rotation, fire-suppressed and closed-canopy silviculture, often with a dense hardwood midstory. Another impact is the decrease in the number of Baird’s pocket gophers, a primary food source of the snake and architect of a burrow system where the snake has been found to spend the majority of its life.

Photo credit: USFWS.

For more information visit www.fws.gov/southeast/candidateconservation/examples.html