Tall Timbers Helping Landowners Manage Land in Florida
By Peter Kleinhenz, Aucilla River Coalition Coordinator
When you work in watershed conservation, there are few things that get you down like seeing major, negative impacts to waterways right before your eyes. This was the case last week when Tall Timbers Field Biologist, Becc Armstrong, and I were out on a property visit in Jefferson County, Florida. We were looking down at a stream coursing through mature forest at the edge of a cattle pasture. Dozens of cows were standing in the creek, defecating in the scum-encrusted water and sloshing about on the muddy bank. The creek, as it flowed through this particular property, was trashed.
Cows rest and wade in a stream, creating significant water quality issues for both this stream and for the Aucilla River, which it ultimately flows into. Photo by Peter Kleinhenz.
Sad as this sight was, we were there to help. Becc and I are both part of a team at Tall Timbers that, along with Conservation Program Liaison, Tyler Macmillan, are working to help landowners improve their properties for wildlife and water quality. The three of us are funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (NRCS-RCPP). The pot of money that provides our salaries also reimburses select landowners for 75% of their land management costs, if they get involved with the program. In the case of the nasty creek described above, this reimbursement would help to offset the cost of fencing the cattle out of the stream and associated wetlands on the property.
Tyler Macmillan tours a property with a landowner that has applied for RCPP funding. Photo by Becc Armstrong.
The Little Aucilla River is one of many waterways that will directly benefit from activities conducted through this project. Photo by Peter Kleinhenz.
Our NRCS-RCPP project, “Red Hills to the Coast, Connecting Land and Water,” covers the St. Marks and Aucilla River watersheds in both Florida and Georgia. From July to September, landowners throughout the Florida portion of these watersheds got in touch with the RCPP team about getting land management activities implemented on their properties. These are landowners that run the gamut of financial resources, age, knowledge, and property size. However, one common thread exists between all of them: an interest in making their property more ecologically-friendly.
Our small team works with the landowners from beginning to end. First, we help landowners fill out the correct forms to apply for the program. Next, we visit properties with the landowners to understand their wishes for the property and to assess what land management practices are most needed. From these visits, we develop maps and lists of potential practices to administer. After the application period ends, applications get ranked based on questions about natural resource concerns, the potential for land management to benefit listed species, acreage to be treated, and more.
The landowners fortunate enough to get selected for funding enter into contracts with NRCS, either to hire contractors or to do the management work themselves, and then get reimbursed for 75% of their cost based on NRCS rates for each type of management activity. If this all sounds complex, that’s because it is. But this program, at the end of the day, gets the work done and is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year over the next five years to do just that.
Fire-suppressed longleaf pine forest will benefit greatly from prescribed burning implemented by this RCPP project. Photo by Tyler Macmillan.
In our first year, nearly 30 Florida landowners representing over 7,000 acres applied for assistance through the Tall Timbers RCPP program. It’s unlikely that we will have enough funding to help all of them, but we will accomplish as much as we can. Executing these land management activities will benefit native species, improve water quality and quantity in the watersheds, and reduce public safety threats by reducing fuel loads using prescribed fire. For many landowners, involvement with this program will get the ball rolling on land management that can continue indefinitely.
The wild thing about the Tall Timbers RCPP project is that this land management component is just one piece of a larger project that includes everything from oyster restoration, to purchased conservation easements, to an economic impact study, to a social survey to understand attitudes about conservation in these watersheds. In other words, our team is busy, but we are motivated by the fact that we are helping to improve and conserve properties that, in many cases, would not be improved or conserved without this program’s help. That feels good.
A Unique Way to Help You Discover the Aucilla Watershed
By Peter Kleinhenz, Aucilla River Coalition Coordinator
I’d venture a guess that almost every person reading this enjoys spending time outdoors. You probably have a property, a lake, a river, or a campsite that feels familiar and comfortable. It’s likely a place where some of your best outdoor memories occurred. But what about when you feel like exploring someplace new? How do you decide where to go?
Events, such as this Flint River Grotto paddling trip, help to expose new people to the beauty of the Aucilla. Photo by Doug Alderson.
The tool, called a storymap, integrates maps with descriptions and photos to function as an online guide to a given topic. In this case, you can scroll through a tour of the watershed or simply click on the outdoor activity that you are most interested in doing. The maps are activity specific to help you easily figure out how to get from your house to some of the best spots in the Aucilla watershed.
The storymap allows maps and text to flow together, as you can see here in the scenic driving section.
The storymap represents one of many productive collaborations between the Tall Timbers Land Conservancy and the Tall Timbers Geospatial Lab. These kinds of partnerships, in whatever form they take, are almost always of value since they bring people with different ways of approaching problems together. The result is usually something that would not have happened had one group tried to work on the project independently. Whether it’s outreach or conservation, there really is power in partnership.
Those familiar with the Aucilla watershed already know that it’s a paradise in terms of its beauty and the number of ways one can connect with its unparalleled resources. We hope that this storymap helps more people discover the watershed. Through this discovery, we hope that appreciation follows. It’s this appreciation which will result in support for the long-term conservation of the Aucilla and its watershed. For an area this special, it’s important to bring more people into the fold. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the storymap and, more importantly, that you fall in love with some of the places that it features.
For more information about the Aucilla watershed and the efforts of Tall Timbers to conserve it, visit this link.
Suncoast Connector toll road plan largely rolled back
By Neil Fleckenstein, Planning Coordinator
On June 24, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 100, which repeals and replaces the M-CORES plan to build 330 miles of toll roads throughout Florida. SB 100 cancels plans for the Southwest Florida Connector toll road between Polk and Collier counties. Also gone are M-CORES various programs and initiatives that would have encouraged residential and commercial development in rural portions of Florida.
Instead, SB 100 focuses limited roadway improvements on US 19 — only on congested areas well south of Jefferson County; maintains the vast majority of US 19 in its current configuration — thereby avoiding unnecessary construction that would harm natural resources and working rural lands; and saves billions of scarce tax dollars.
Tall Timbers applauds the efforts by the Florida Senate in crafting and passing SB 100 and the Florida House in unanimously supporting this bill. We especially appreciate Senator Gayle Harrell for drafting SB 100 and Representative Randolph Bracy for championing measures from the Toll Road Task Force Reports to protect the environment and vulnerable communities.
The significant scaling down of the Suncoast Connector toll road project was the product of hard work by dedicated Jefferson County residents, conservation organizations around Florida — including Tall Timbers, and thousands of residents throughout the state who opposed this project.
M-CORES is a cautionary tale of the considerable impact that legislative proposals can have on our natural resources and rural communities. At the same time, it’s an affirmation of the power of collaboration among conservation organizations and an energized, informed public.
Tall Timbers encourages residents of the Red Hills and the Florida Big Bend to continue paying close attention to issues large and small that could affect our irreplaceable natural resources, productive working rural lands, and rural land use traditions that make these areas so distinct.
On Monday, February 22, 2021, longtime friend of Tall Timbers, Dr. Pamela Hall, passed away succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Pam was a passionate, tireless advocate for protecting rural lands, especially the Leon County portion of the Red Hills. Without a doubt, Pam was the most consequential and effective advocate for protecting rural lands, rural character, and natural resources in Leon County in the last 25 years.
Pam worked around the world as a rainforest biologist and university professor while raising two amazing daughters, Maia and Clea, with her husband Scott Hannahs. Scott is a nationally known scientist at the Florida State University High Magnetic Field Laboratory but it’s a sign of Pam’s place in the community that he was often introduced as Pam Hall’s husband, a role he relished.
Several months ago, Tall Timbers staff planted a longleaf pine in Pam’s honor as a small token of our appreciation for her work helping to protect the Red Hills region of Leon County. Pam loved longleaf pines and their vital role in our natural community. The plaque accompanying the longleaf reads: “A Longleaf for a Long View: This longleaf pine tree was planted in 2020 with deep gratitude for Dr. Pamela Hall’s many contributions to protecting the natural resources and unique character of Leon County’s rural landscape. Pam gave freely of her time, talent, and intellect to ensure the sustainability of the Red Hills region for generations to come. For our friend, Pam.”
For a more detailed look at Pam’s amazing life and contributions protecting Leon County’s natural resources, click here for a Tall Timbers eJournalarticle from 2018.
It’s time to give credit where credit is due. If it were not for conservation-minded private landowners throughout the country, we would have far less wildlife. And that wildlife includes birds.
In Florida and Georgia, private lands make up the majority of both states (79% and 90.3%, respectively). Many of these lands, such as shopping malls and golf courses, are unsuitable for many declining bird species. However, millions of acres of private lands in both states are conducive to these species and, in many cases, are the deciding factor in whether or not populations can persist in an area over the long term.
With this in mind, the Tall Timbers Land Conservancy is working to empower conservation easement landowners to document the birds that occur on their properties. Tall Timbers applied for a Cornell Lab of Ornithology grant to help them achieve this goal. They have partnered with the Alachua Conservation Trust and Conservation Florida, as well as with four Audubon chapters, to link Audubon volunteers with private landowners. The idea is to have solid birders from Audubon chapters teach landowners how to identify birds and use eBird to record what they see throughout the year. Land trusts like Tall Timbers often visit properties only once per year to conduct easement monitoring visits and, even then, often are not recording every bird species that they see. Helping landowners fill in the who, when, and where for different bird species in places where surveys rarely, if ever, occur could help to augment the efforts of ornithologists.
You may be wondering what this project looks like in practice. Well, the bottom line is that it’s been a lot of fun for all involved. Tall Timbers staff have conducted four landowner visits so far in partnership with Apalachee Audubon. At Hays Cummins’ and Donna McCollum’s property, participants got to watch hundreds of wading birds fly over their heads to a wetland roost at sunset. Helen and Tom Roth’s property offered the chance to see habitat restoration in action on a beautiful landscape, with a flock of gorgeous (and uncommon) purple finches providing icing on the cake. Serenading grasshopper sparrows at sunset rounded out a visit to Annie Schmidt’s property, that had already included steephead ravines, a waterfall, and salamanders. Guy Anglin and Jan Blue’s property visit resulted in great looks at a vesper sparrow, a northern harrier, bald eagles, and nesting red-headed woodpeckers.
AAS volunteers and Tall Timbers staff scanning the ephemeral wetland owned by Hays Cummins and Donna McCollum.
Hays Cummins, who with his wife, Donna, owns the wading bird rookery mentioned above said, “It was a great day of fellowship and experiencing the many natural wonders of this region of Florida. It was so invigorating to be with people whose passions for the environment matched ours. Strong partnerships like this give us hope for the future of the region.”
Birding in the restored longleaf pine savanna on Helen and Tom Roth’s property.
Apalachee Audubon volunteers posing by a waterfall on Annie Schmidt’s property.
Staring at a vesper sparrow found in a field on Guy Anglin and Jan Blue’s property.
The visits offer opportunities for Audubon members to learn more about habitat management, see the benefits of conservation easements firsthand, and experience spectacular natural habitats that they would probably never experience otherwise. They offer landowners the chance to deepen knowledge of their property and the species that occur within it, and maybe even introduce them to a new hobby.
With new birds arriving soon from places further south and more landowners showing interest in getting involved, the prospects of this project look promising. If you are interested in getting involved with the project, please contact Peter Kleinhenz.
The M-CORES program, which includes the proposed Suncoast Connector Toll Road in Jefferson County, passed through the Florida Legislature at breakneck speed with little review or analysis. Tall Timbers has a number of concerns given the potential for significant and wide spread impacts. These include fragmenting public and private conservation lands, robbing business from Main Street Monticello, impacting our rivers and other water resources, and making prescribed fire more difficult and costly.
Join us in asking the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners to OPPOSE the Suncoast Connector toll road and its path through Jefferson County.
Take action now with our easy email form.
Send an email to all five Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners with one click!
Selected Publications authored by Wildland Fire Science staff.
Educating and guiding the next generation of fire researchers and managers is a key goal of Wildland Fire Science and a resource for testing new ideas in fire research.
Tall Timbers hosts the Prescribed Fire Science Consortium, a national network of researchers and managers who promote integrated research and management to advance next generation tools for fire practitioners. https://arcg.is/1DSjDT
Working with partners in the Prescribed Fire Science Consortium, the program is building nexgen 3-D fuel beds using terrestrial LiDAR and novel sampling techniques to power new fire behavior models for prescribed fire managers. This work links to Tall Timbers work in wildlife habitat usage and ecological forestry.
Tall Timbers is leading an effort to map fire regimes at the landscape scale. Staff work with numerous agencies to evaluate fire records and satellite imagery to build this critical conservation database. https://skfb.ly/6DqOY
We are linking physics and field observations to understand the fluid dynamics of fire behavior surface fire regimes. Our work combines field observations using advanced thermal imaging techniques, laboratory studies, and coupled fire-atmospheric modeling to help managers improve outcomes of managed fire regimes.
Burn prioritization modeling seminars and fire modeling tools are supported by Wildland Fire Science to train managers in the important planning stages of prescribed fires.
The conserved lands of the Greater Red Hills region are found on working, income-producing properties that support agriculture, forestry, and recreational hunting. These properties contribute $272 million annually to local economies and support 2,300 jobs. [link to Planning & Advocacy section] The landowners’ strong stewardship ethic preserves their working lands while replenishing drinking water supplies, protecting water quality, and providing wildlife habitat for dozens of rare and endangered species. Tall Timbers’ conservation easements on these working properties encourage landowners to retain their traditional livelihood by keeping farms in family ownership.
Home to world-class wild quail populations, the Greater Red Hills region contains the largest concentration of gamebird preserves in the United States. These preserves also support the largest community of Red-cockaded woodpeckers on private lands. Indicators of high quality habitat found here include the gopher tortoise, Bachman’s sparrow, fox squirrel, and many amphibians. Tall Timbers’ conservation easements identify and protect the critical habitats of these species.
The region also boasts outstanding aquatic resources. Large river systems, like the Flint/Apalachicola, Ochlockonee, and Aucilla, flow from Georgia and feed into the Gulf of Mexico to support some of the world’s most productive estuaries. Large disappearing sinkhole lakes, like Iamonia, Miccosukee, and Jackson, provide habitat for an array of aquatic species and migratory birds. Tall Timbers’ conservation easements protect these vital watersheds and wetlands that are the lifeblood for the ecological health of the region.
Once dominated by longleaf pine, our pine woodlands support abundant wildlife and local economies. These forests need prescribed fire to stay healthy. Herbert L. Stoddard and his associates Ed and Roy Komarek were pioneers in this emerging scientific field during the mid-20th century. Tall Timbers continues that legacy with applied research on prescribed fire and land management. Today, there is a tremendous need to expand prescribed fire use beyond the Red Hills to ensure ecosystem health and reduce wildfire risk. Additionally, Tall Timbers uses conservation easements to permanently protect private woodlands while balancing the need for economic return from selective timbering.
Tall Timbers hosts the premier fire technology transfer organization—the Southern Fire Exchange. This JFSP funded effort helps connect research to management through webinars, workshops, and support of the Prescribed Fire Science Consortium.
The Longleaf Legacy landscape prescribed fire burn team arm of Wildland Fire Science works directly with landowners and partners to effectively put fire on the ground and promote prescribed fire throughout the region.
Staff and researchers support Federal fire training by serving as a cadre for NWCG training courses, ranging from basic wildland fire to advanced fire effects.
(PFTC) specializes in training fire fighters the principles and techniques of prescribed fire through practical hands-on experience. https://www.fws.gov/fire/pftc/
Private land owners are the largest source of prescribed fire in the country. These land owners and the culture of fire that was maintained by them during decades of suppression are a part of why Tall Timbers is a world-wide center for prescribed fire science. Workshops and fire training are a critical focus of the Longleaf Legacy Landscape Burn Team and our support of the Georgia Forestry Commission Prescribed Fire Center in Marion County.
