Red Hills Spring Dinner
Join us at Tall Timbers to celebrate conservation easements established throughout the Red Hills and Albany regions over the past two years. Final details to be determined, but this is one event you don’t want to miss.
Sentinel Landscape Designation Provides New Opportunities
New Private Land Stewardship Funding Opportunities with Sentinel Landscape Designation
The 2020s have brought their share of challenges but, for landowners in the Red Hills, they have also delivered a host of land stewardship funding opportunities. Millions of dollars of financial resources have swept into our region thanks to the hard work of Tall Timbers and its many partners, providing direct assistance to landowners looking to improve and conserve their land.
Zach Butler, the Madison County forester, Becc Armstrong from Tall Timbers, and a private landowner discuss land management options on private property in Madison County, Florida.
Florida Sentinel Landscape Designation
The most recent opportunity came in the form of the Northwest Florida Sentinel Landscape Designation from the U.S. Department of Defense. This designation, which encompasses all of the Florida Panhandle from the Perdido River in Escambia County to the Aucilla River in Jefferson County, was announced in February 2022.
The Sentinel Landscape Designation is the result of hard work by Kent Wimmer with Defenders of Wildlife. Kent brought together more than 20 partner organizations, including Tall Timbers, to support the designation and highlight its potential for the region. The designation is popular because it increases access to federal, state, local, and private programs focused on land conservation and habitat management.
The Department of Defense – A Partner in Land Conservation and Management
So why is the Department of Defense so interested in land conservation and management? Besides being one of the largest conservation landowners in Florida, the Department of Defense needs to ensure that its missions can continue. Northwest Florida contains a variety of military installations, all of which prefer to conduct their training missions over lightly populated landscapes, for obvious reasons.
The Department of Defense and the United States Department of Agriculture have worked together across the country on Sentinel Landscapes to create buffers around military installations. Through this program the agencies and their partners create new opportunities for private landowners to conserve natural resources, adapt to climate change impacts, and bolster forestry and agricultural activities.
Natural Resources Conservation Service–Regional Conservation Partnership Program
Do these federal program opportunities sound familiar? They should. Tall Timbers has been leading a 5-year, $7 million effort to purchase conservation easements, and help fund landowner stewardship activities within the Aucilla and St. Marks River watersheds of Florida and Georgia. Tall Timbers applied for this opportunity through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service–Regional Conservation Partnership Program (NRCS–RCPP), and we have already worked with close to fifty private landowners.
Peter Kleinhenz, with two Georgia landowners, discussing land management options for their property in Brooks County, Georgia.
Planned work over the next year, with funding from NRCS–RCPP, includes removing dense infestations of invasive species, planting hundreds of acres of longleaf pine, and burning over 2,000 acres. Landowners involved with these management activities will have 75% of their costs reimbursed, enabling them to get more done for their land with less money.
Tall Timbers continues to apply for more funding to help private landowners manage and conserve their properties. Over the next few years, these efforts will result in more resources to draw from than ever before.
Just as the Department of Defense wants to preserve its ability to complete its missions, Tall Timbers constantly strives to enhance its ability to complete its mission—to foster exemplary land stewardship through research, conservation, and education.
To learn more about the Northwest Florida Sentinel Landscape, explore this Story Map created by Kent Wimmer with Defenders of Wildlife.
Northwest Florida Sentinel Landscapes Map
If you are interested in land stewardship resources through the NRCS-RCPP program, please email Tyler Macmillan to learn more.
GPS Telemetry Data Used for Wild Pig Management
GPS Telemetry Data Used to Track Wild Pig Movement and Behavior
Chris attaches a GPS collar to a subadult female pig.
As Tall Timbers continues to partner with the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program (FSCP), University of Georgia Master’s student Chris Terrazas (advised by Dr. Mike Mengak) has spent the past three months attaching GPS collars to wild pigs captured by Wildlife Services. With support from a Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) grant, Chris will use GPS telemetry data to inform future trapping efforts and explore habitat management strategies that could mitigate wild pig population growth.
Control measures for wild pigs are well-studied, but implementation is limited to detection locality and largely reactive. Land managers might only detect wild pigs when they are traveling past trail cameras or leaving behind damage from foraging. Location data can reveal where pigs go when they aren’t foraging and what attributes, if any, pigs select for resting cover. Understanding fine-scale habitat use could help managers focus trapping and habitat manipulation in areas pigs are expected to be, rather than where they have been. We hope to use these data to direct a more proactive approach to wild pig management, especially in areas sensitive to these invasive pests.
Thus far, Chris has collected over 3,000 GPS locations on seven individual pigs in the Red Hills region. Using those data, he identified 20 resting sites and evaluated the vegetative cover at those sites, some of which pigs have visited repeatedly. Chris will use fire frequency models developed by Tall Timbers to evaluate the impact of prescribed fire on wild pig movement and behavior. Telemetry data will also be used to study the influence of abiotic factors like weather and proximity to important landscape features on wild pig habitat use. Data analysis will wrap up in 2023; stay tuned for details.
One week’s worth of GPS data from a collared pig in the Red Hills region; clusters of subsequent locations indicate prolonged use of an area and potential resting habitat.
If you would like to hear more about this project, please join us at our upcoming Red Hills land owner/manager workshop on April 15, 2022 at Livingston Place, where we will discuss the continued feral swine control efforts within the Florida-Georgia FSCP. For more information about attending, please email Kim Sash or call her at (850) 893-4153 ext. 336.
Support the Red Hills Spring Dinner
Sponsor the 2022 Red Hills Spring Dinner Fundraising Event
Tall Timbers will host the Red Hills Spring Dinner at Livingston Place in Greenville, Florida, on Thursday, April 14, 2022. This fundraising event will celebrate the grand reopening of the historic manor house after a four-year, award-winning restoration project.
Livingston Place was the winter hunting estate of Gerald and Eleanor Livingston, and has hosted the Continental Field Trial since 1937. Acclaimed architect John Russell Pope designed the Neo-Classical Revival house in 1936, and it is regarded as one of his finest residential works. Pope also designed the Jefferson Memorial, the National Archives, and the National Gallery of Art on the Washington Mall. Now fully furnished, the mansion is ready to showcase its unique grandeur.
The Red Hills Spring Dinner will honor Daphne and Marty Wood who provided guidance and major financial support to bring the restoration project to fruition. Under the aegis of grants from the Florida Department of State, the event will also recognize the restoration specialists whose stellar work brought the building back to life.
Since 1989, this special event has brought together Red Hills landowners and community leaders to celebrate conservation efforts in Southwest Georgia and North Florida. Over 158,000 acres have been permanently saved by Tall Timbers. These lands protect both critical wildlife habitat and clean water resources for our region.
Livingston Place is at the center of our regional conservation effort. To share the history of this beautiful property with its visitors, Tall Timbers is planning a museum-quality historic exhibit room in the house. The exhibit will explore the national treasure of the Red Hills; the history of the Livingston family; African American heritage and contributions; and Tall Timbers’ research and conservation efforts.
All proceeds from the Red Hills Spring Dinner fundraising event will help complete this important exhibit project.
If you would like to contribute to the Red Hills Spring Dinner fundraiser by becoming a sponsor, please contact Crystal Rice in the Tall Timbers Development Office at 850.545.2162 or email her.
Thank you for helping us celebrate land conservation and historic preservation in the Red Hills.
Feral Hog Control Program Update
Red Hills Region Feral Hog Control Program
In 2019, Tall Timbers partnered with the USDA Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program (FSCP). The purpose of the program, funded in the 2018 Farm Bill, is to respond to the threat feral swine pose to agriculture, native ecosystems, and human and animal health. Tall Timbers’ project includes the Red Hills region from Tallahassee, Florida to Thomasville, Georgia, shouldered by the Ochlockonee and Aucilla rivers.
With over 82% of Red Hills landowners participating the concentrated effort, the project has had a lot of success. As of July 2021, moving from the Ochlockonee River eastward, there have been 1,877 hogs removed. The project funds USDA’s Wildlife Services employees to apply their trapping expertise on private lands. This concerted effort has taken the burden off landowners in the time consuming and frustrating process of trapping feral swine.
Feral swine are not only destructive, but also spread disease. Wildlife Services professionals are disease testing a portion of the hogs captured. These blood draws test for both pseudorabies virus (PRV) and swine brucellosis. Of the 58 hogs tested for pseudorabies, 22% returned positive results. These results are typical with what has been documented in other populations of feral swine. PRV is transmitted primarily through direct animal-to-animal contact, but it can also spread indirectly through contaminated boots, knives, equipment, etc. PRV can also affect dogs, cattle, cats, sheep, and goats – there is no treatment, but antibiotics can help with secondary bacterial infections. Of the 56 hogs tested for swine brucellosis, 9% returned positive results. This disease can be contracted by people and is transmitted through bodily fluids and/or by ingesting infected tissues. Protective gloves and washing after handling feral hogs are critical to limit the spread of these diseases.
A concurrent project to the trapping effort is monitoring its effectiveness. Through the USDA grant, Tall Timbers is funding University of Georgia Master’s student, Kelsey Hoskins (advised by Dr. Mike Mengak). Kelsey’s project focuses on the before and after effects of the removal of feral swine on the landscape. This includes effects to native wildlife and habitats and water quality before and after the removal of feral hogs on a property. With over 150 wildlife cameras across the landscape, Kelsey’s data may show a displacement of native wildlife on the landscape while feral hogs are present, and the return of native wildlife, once feral hogs are removed. Thus far, Kelsey has collected over 291,764 images. Kelsey is also documenting habitat damage due to feral hogs, and that information is also collected via landowner surveys conducted by Tall Timbers.
With over 150 wildlife cameras across the landscape, Kelsey’s data may show a displacement of native wildlife on the landscape while feral hogs are present, and the return of native wildlife, once feral hogs are removed. Thus far, Kelsey has collected over 291,764 images.
Beginning this month, Tall Timbers technician Chris Terrazas, with assistance from Wildlife Services, will be putting GPS collars on feral swine. This project will transition to a graduate project for Chris to study how these feral hogs are using the landscape, including how far they travel, routes of travel, and optimal foraging and resting habitats. This information will be helpful for future control of feral hogs in the Red Hills. We look forward to sharing results of this project in the future.
Currently, the FSCP is slated to wrap up in September 2023. Tall Timbers hopes that the Farm Bill will renew this successful project and we will be able to expand to areas outside of the Red Hills in order to assist more private landowners. Tall Timbers will continue efforts to include feral hog control in future Farm Bills, and encourages landowners to talk to their elected officials for continued support of this project.
