California: Problem here is the removal / lack of dead trees

This issue previously covered here:

You probably already read that two Rossmoor homeowner groups — Mutual
68 and Mutual 59 — have decided to go ahead with their plans to shoot
50 acorn woodpeckers to try to keep the birds from drilling holes in
their condos to stash their acorns for the winter. It won’t work, so
shooting the birds is an exercise in futility and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service should cancel their permit to kill them immediately.
The USFWS shouldn’t have issued the depredation permit in the first
place for at least two reasons.

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Acorn woodpecker experts say killing the birds won’t work. It also
seems clear that Mutual 68 and Mutual 59 have not made a good-faith
effort to try all nonlethal remedies to their problem. This last
reason is clearly stipulated on the permit as a requirement. Your
click makes a difference! On Jan. 7, members of Audubon California,
the Mt. Diablo Audubon Society and acorn woodpecker experts met with
representatives of Rossmoor and USFWS and presented clear scientific
reasons why the shooting would be ineffectual. They also offered
substantial resources to help the homeowners solve the woodpecker
problem with nonlethal methods. The homeowner association board of
directors for Mutual 68 and for Mutual 59 basically ignored this
advice. Mutual 68 has voted to go ahead and shoot woodpeckers and
Mutual 59 voted to wait two months and then start shooting. Audubon
California and MDAS had offered to help, contingent on the Rossmoor
mutuals voting not to kill the birds. Because the mutuals obviously
have rejected that offer, Audubon California is calling on the USFWS
to revoke the permit they issued to the Rossmoor groups. “It’s obvious
to everyone now that the permit was issued using faulty assumptions
and that it is biologically flawed as it relates to the Rossmoor
situation,” said Graham Chisholm, director of conservation for Audubon
California. “Moreover, the homeowners clearly have not tried every
nonlethal remedy, as their permit requires.” Acorn woodpeckers are a
fairly common and beloved bird in California. The highly social bird
is known to store food in large communal granaries drilled in oaks and
other woodland trees. As housing developments, such as the ones in
Rossmoor, have encroached into these woodlands, the creative birds
have been known to drill their holes in buildings.

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