Ark. town hopes rare bird, prosperity reappear

Three years ago, a research team from Cornell University and the Nature Conservancy said it had made a big discovery in Arkansas: a sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker, last seen in the U.S. in the 1940s. The large, yellow-eyed bird put Brinkley, Ark., on the map and put tourist dollars in locals' pockets — for a little while. Since the bird has not been seen again, the short boom has ended, reports The New York Times. (Encarta map)

"The patch of Arkansas bayou where the researchers said they spotted the bird is in the heart of Monroe County," Lara Farrar reports. "Once an agricultural and manufacturing center, the county is now one of the poorest places in Arkansas. For its roughly 10,000 residents, the reported rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker fired hopes of an economic turnaround not seen since the soybean boom of the 1970s."

Ivory-billed themed souvenirs are gathering dust, but locals such as David Baxter (in a Times photo by Kate Medley) are on the lookout for the bird and waiting for the boom it inspired to return. (Read more)