On December 26, 2012, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to upgrade the Wood Stork's status, from "endangered" to "threatened". The Audubon Society, however, says that in
some areas, like South Florida, there are still multiple conditions that threaten the bird's recovery, namely destruction of habitat and disruption of water flow. The population of the bird in the southeast was at one time as much as 150,000 birds Breeding populations in the southeast has dropped sharply to 10,000 by the 1990's
