From what I could find it's the Black Pinesnake being listed as threatened as a reason for the closing.
I live in north Alabama and spend a good deal of time on WMAs and other public land for both hunting and recreation so it's a bit worrisome to see this happening. Makes me worry if my son...
Don't see much about this issue in the south but thought I'd share this.
http://www.outdooralabama.com/state-loses-more-19000-acres-public-hunting-land
And here's a post from last year about the loss of hunting access on the Boykin WMA and another 17,000 acres...