Over the last year, Ted Turner’s Avalon property has worked to incorporate a renewed approach to its land management, conservation efforts and focus on the future.
That’s due in part to the new manager of the largest tract of privately-owned land in Jefferson County, Karl Halbig.
Halbig is relatively new to the Red Hills but his fresh perspective and “think outside the box” approach has led him to incorporate practices that focus on continually improving the landscape and its management to develop Avalon’s next chapter.
A graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton and the University of Georgia, Halbig came to Avalon in August 2022 after years working with cattle and land management in Florida and Georgia.
Previously, Halbig served as General Manager of a diverse purebred cattle and hunting operation in South Georgia.
Challenged to make the operation cash-flow, multiple revenue streams were utilized that included traditional quail, deer, and turkey hunting, 1,500 head of registered Angus cattle and trophy bass fishing. A bed & breakfast, corporate retreats and weddings allowed year-round opportunities for income to meet that goal.
It was during this time that Halbig found a passion for the hospitality industry that blended recreation and land management. When the Avalon position became available, he saw it as a rare opportunity to be a part of something much bigger.
“I’ve always wanted to feel like the work that I do will make a difference, to leave a good footprint for the next generation,” Halbig said.
With more than 21,450 acres to manage, Halbig has his work cut out for him. But instead of coming in and immediately looking to make changes and put his touch on the management of the property, he sat back for a year to evaluate current operations.
“It was important for me to learn the property and see a full cycle of our operations including how our different departments from the Main House, woods crew, grounds and office staff interact and function before making any changes,” he said.
Halbig spent much of that first year GPS mapping the entire property including quail courses, road systems, feed trails, food plots and brood fields to get a better feel for how the property lays out.
Collecting this data was critical to developing a written management plan for Avalon which didn’t exist before he came on board. Halbig knew that a detailed management plan that included timber and habitat management goals would be necessary for the success of the property and allow his team and others to have a shared focus on the future of Avalon.
One management practice that Avalon is evaluating is how they burn each year. For decades, Avalon has implemented a bird-ring prescribed fire program, typically completed by April 1, in which small patches of cover are left intact and fires are applied around them.
Leaving unburned patches for quail allows them to maintain nesting, loafing, and escape cover. However, it can be labor intensive and typically results in less escape cover than might be ideal for quail.
In 2024, Avalon is planning to implement a block burning system that results in a mosaic of 50-50% burned cover.
“As we evaluated the bird rings, we saw that it’s very cost prohibitive for us,” he said. “There’s a lot of time dedicated to that, a lot of fuel, manpower, somebody sitting in the seat of the tractor. Then, we looked at our road system. Can we switch that to a mosaic burn block fire system where we could know that we’re doing a 50% burn across the property?”
Having that mapping system allows Halbig and his team to evaluate the success of burning more conclusively rather than anecdotally. It’s a move that will pay off in 2024 when some of those changes are implemented.
Avalon has a long history of being managed as a wild quail hunting property and is a favorite of the Turner family for its natural beauty and diversity.
“You just get nervous looking across the course and saying, have we burned too much? Did we scorch it? Are we not leaving enough nesting cover for these birds? And are they more susceptible to predation at that time? And it’s hard to say whether that was the case.”
Implementing a way to collect data has been crucial to developing a long-term plan for the property. That has included predator index surveys, spring whistle counts and fall covey counts and other ways to build a baseline for the property so any changes can be measured, and decisions made on sound information instead of on a hunch.
The sheer size of Avalon allows room to experiment with new management practices in a small way to see how quail, other game and vegetation respond without affecting elements that have proven successful.
“Our goal is not to just go through the motions and manage the property, but how do we improve it?” Halbig said. “I think it’s important for us to have a way to collect that data and make sound decisions, whether that’s collectively as a group or with our team here. That way, we have confidence in what we’re doing.”
Looking toward the future
All the work over the last year establishing data sets and mapping is part of Halbig’s focus on looking toward the future of Avalon to make sure it meets the long-term goals and expectations of the property.
He’s also focused on making sure employees who have been with the property feel ownership in any changes that may come about. The hands-on knowledge of longtime employees is just as valuable as any large-scale shifts that may come about by reassessing the management plan.
One of those approaches has been to encourage employees to participate in training opportunities as well as visiting other properties to see what they’re doing and how it’s working.
“It was very important for me to express to our staff my support of continuing education and networking with others in our area” he said.
Reassessing the management of Avalon is a key step in making sure the property remains as biodiverse as possible and supports the quality landscape it has now.
“I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for the history of these properties and the traditional ways in which they were managed. But I have to be focused on the future,” Halbig said. “We need to be prepared for whatever challenges may come our way that differ from the past. If we need to look at creating new revenue streams in the future, now is the time to develop a plan and to work those details out.”
Decades of conservation continue
Avalon has a long history of being managed as a wild quail hunting property and, Halbig said, is a favorite of the Turner family for its natural beauty and diversity.
Avalon was purchased by Ted Turner in 1985 from the McKay family, where the property was formerly known as Welaunee Plantation. Today, the property enjoys an average of six coveys per hour on its quail courses, although Halbig is confident that number can be increased. Avalon is also home to abundant turkey, deer and black bears. Additionally, it has also been a place where conservation is a top priority.
In 1988, over 8,000 acres were put into a conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy. In 2023, more than 13,000 acres were put into conservation as part of the voter-approved Florida Forever program, which dedicates public dollars to private land conservation easements with public benefits.
The easements prevent the property from ever being developed and the landscape has become a place where rare and declining species like the red-cockaded woodpecker have found a home and flourish. According to Halbig, there are currently 18 active clusters on the property.
A portion of Avalon is also in the process of becoming permitted as a Gopher Tortoise Long-Term Recipient (LTP) site through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. If approved, gopher tortoises on urban development sites from around the state can be transported to the permitted recipient sites on the property for a fee paid by developers.
With over 5,000 acres of suitable soil and habitat for gopher tortoises, there is an opportunity to expand the number of recipient sites across Avalon to support habitat management goals beneficial for quail and other wildlife.
“It does a lot of good, and it follows Ted’s vision as far as conservation and wanting to protect endangered and imperiled species,” Halbig said. “It aligns with work that we’ve done with RCWs and some other plans that we have interest in down the road to blend conservation and commerce.”
Halbig and his family live and work on the property and for them, it’s a dream come true. He may be new to the Red Hills, but Karl Halbig has his eyes on the future of Avalon.
“I believe this property is very sentimental to Ted and I take that seriously. It’s something that I want to protect for him,” Halbig said. “For me, it’s always that idea of leaving it better than you found it and being a good steward of the land. I hope to manage Avalon in a way that protects its natural resources while increasing the recreational value of the property for future generations.”
