Families and friends of the women, many from the Bay Area, confirmed their identities. The women went on regular trips to the Tahoe region and were experienced skiers, the families said.

“The humane thing to do is not use an exterminator and save these little animals that are happy and want to live,” animal rescuer Frankie Floridia said.

More than three decades after that last known sighting of the red-cockaded woodpecker in the summer of 1994, state and federal officials have an ambitious plan to bring back the imperiled bird to the ...