Jeremy Green is passing on the legacy of prescribed fire

May 15, 2023

Jeremy Green was born into the world of prescribed fire and he’s passing that knowledge on to the next generation of conservationists.

The son of past Tall Timbers Executive Director, Lane Green, and local college instructor of natural resources, Jeremy Green has more than 30 years of sweat equity poured into caring for every inch of his family’s 80-acre tract at the Florida-Georgia border.

Southern Regional Technical College Professor Elizabeth Harrell talks with students during a learn and burn.

Green has been taking what he learned from his dad and actively managing his family property, including burning the same timber stands he burned in his youth.

The tract has been in the family since before the current state line was established. Green has made it his mission to carry on his family’s legacy by passing his local knowledge to students in the Red Hills region as an instructor of Land, Forest, and Wildlife Management at Southern Regional Technical College.

Based in Thomasville, SRTC has seen some big changes in its Natural Resources program after Green joined. He revitalized the program and brought in additional local talent, Professor Elizabeth Harrell.

These two make a team that considers field experience as one of the greatest limiting factors for students obtaining employment in the field of natural resources, an agreed upon obstacle for many natural resources agencies seeking new talent.

Part of the teams’ goal is to have SRTC students participate on prescribed burns throughout the Red Hills, including helping burn the Green property.

Burning the “Green Family Farm” is something they gleefully participate in, as most of the property is quail woods and is a sight to behold.

This ability to conduct a burn and monitor fire behavior and effects not only looks great on a resume but also helps the students better prepare for their future jobs as foresters, biologists, and hunting property managers.

Tall Timbers’ George Jensen with Jeremy Green and students from the Southern Regional Technical College Natural Resources Program

Thanks to generations of local knowledge, Green is uniquely qualified to lead these students into future land management jobs via his family’s history of natural resources management on their property and beyond.

Green and Harrell are also active participants in the Tall Timbers supported Southwest Georgia Prescribed Burn Association, helping to connect students to other burning opportunities around the region.

Through their leadership, students have been able to obtain their Georgia Burner Certifications, learn to burn on various properties with varied habitats and network with professionals in the field of natural resources.

In February, SWGA PBA Coordinator George Jensen was able to assist with the burn on the Green family property and watch how someone who has burned their property for the last 30 years can teach our next generation about land management in the past, and for the future.

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About the Author

George Jensen

George Jensen, originally from Savannah, Georgia, lived most of his life in Wisconsin. George attended the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where he studied Wildland Fire Science and Conservation Biology under Dr Ron Masters. During this time, George had heavy involvement in the UWSP interagency fire crew, where he was an officer for two years; George burned with the crew in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Chicago, Florida, Georgia, and, South Carolina. George also worked for the federal government on a fuels module and helitack crew. Upon graduation, George took a job as a Conservation Biologist for the Endangered Resources section of the WNDR and as a Private lands biologist for the private sector. He was also on the state burn team. George attended graduate school at Mizzou under Dr. Ben Knapp. George worked his master's tenure at the Jones Center at Ichauway, where he researched how Resistance, Resilience, and Transition treatments affect fire behavior and effects in longleaf pine ecosystems during atypically hotter and drier days. He also studied fine-scale fire effects in patches of longleaf pine. Currently, George works for Tall Timbers as the Southwest Georgia Prescribed Burn Association Coordinator and is an Adjunct professor of ecology at Thomas University.

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