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.
Kevin’s 5th Annual Southern Game Fair benefits Tall Timbers
Kevin’s 5th Annual Southern Game Fair celebrates Thomasville’s authentic historical sporting lifestyle by bringing families and community together to promote the preservation of longleaf pine forests and bobwhite quail. It was held November 11 and 12 at historic Greenwood Plantation near Thomasville, Georgia. The event was sponsored by Jon Kohler & Associates, Thomasville Ford Lincoln, and Kevin’s Fine Outdoor Gear & Apparel. A special thank you goes to Kathleen and Kevin Kelly for all their hard work organizing this fun community event that supports Tall Timbers’ Game Bird Program.
This fall Tall Timbers launched a new job board to help job-seekers connect with the variety of unique job opportunities generated by wild quail hunting properties. The new job board, hosted at www.TallTimbers.org/Jobs, was developed in cooperation with landowners and managers, along with the Technical College System of Georgia.
“It’s really part of a larger look at the workforce development needs for the land management, hunting, and hospitality jobs that keep these large private quail lands running,” explained Clay Sisson, the Albany Quail Project & Livingston Place Director for Tall Timbers. “Landowners and managers have recognized the need to treat this as an industry. The job board is just a part that Tall Timbers was in a position to set up and help out.”
In addition to making job opportunities more visible and centrally located for job-seekers, the job board is also collecting data on the types of jobs offered and qualifications needed. This data will be shared with technical colleges as they continuously evaluate and update their programs to make sure students are ready for the jobs that are available.
Southern Regional Technical College, Albany Tech, and Ogeechee Technical College have all participated in the efforts to address workforce development needs, and are helping to promote the job board.
We hope that providing a dedicated location for these unique job openings, will help attract qualified candidates and further highlight the opportunities wild quail lands create. Past economic studies by Tall Timbers show that quail lands generate nearly $340 million in economic impact across the Albany and Red Hills regions, including over 2,600 direct jobs.
The job board posting service is available to all wild quail properties throughout the range of our Regional Quail Programs from the Carolinas down to Central Florida and over to East Texas. To post a job, simply use the “Post a Job” button to complete a short form that is sent to Tall Timbers staff for a quick review and posting. The “Close a Job” button is used remove a job from the board, and includes a few short questions to help us evaluate the program. No passwords or account numbers are needed.
In the first two months of the project, we posted seventeen job openings, and by early November we received our first request to close a job because the position was filled!
Please consider sharing the job board with anyone you know who may be interested in land management, hunting, or hospitality jobs. If you have questions, please contact Clay Sisson.
Tall Timbers’ 24th Annual Kate Ireland Memorial Auction & Dinner Honored Tom Rankin
The 24th Annual Kate Ireland Memorial Dinner & Auction was held Thursday evening, October 14, 2021 at Tall Timbers’ headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida. The event honored long-time Tall Timbers’ Trustee Tom Rankin. It was a sell-out event, with over 400 in attendance.
Festivities included a cocktail reception, silent and live auction, and dinner served under a huge tent overlooking Lake Iamonia. The auction featured a compelling collection of world class artwork, unparalleled hunting and fishing opportunities, vacation getaways, and unique offerings from the Red Hills region and beyond.
Tom Rankin was honored as a true steward of the Red Hills. His family and many friends were on hand to hear current Board Chairman George Simmons provided a humorous “roast” of Tom. But George also shared that Tom has supported Tall Timbers for over 30 years. Tom first became a Tall Timbers’ member in 1988, and served on the Board of Trustees since 2005. He guided the organization through an important period of growth as Chairman of the Board for the past six years.
In appreciation for his many years of service, Tom Rankin was given a historic longleaf pine section by Development Director Crystal Rice. The pine section is from a tree stump whose growth rings show it was a seedling in the 1400s and was 300 years old before its demise.
Tom’s approach to managing is “hands-on,” and he has taken this same approach as a Tall Timbers’ Board member. With a depth of business experience, he asks the hard questions, challenges our thinking, and then supports us. When the Red Hills that he cherishes was under threat from an unnecessary toll road set to run into Jefferson County, Tom dove in as a leader and team member for our outreach and education efforts to successfully repeal the legislation.
We are grateful that Tom has brought his stewardship ethic to both the land of the Red Hills and to the Tall Timbers organization. He is leaving his own fingerprints on the Red Hills and will be appreciated by all of us for years to come.
And, we thank the many sponsors who made this event honoring Tom Rankin possible and the guests who attended and supported Tall Timbers’ mission by generously bidding on the silent and live auction items. We really appreciate your support!
Auction Photo Gallery
Checking out the Silent Auction
Checking out the Silent Auction
Ladies from sponsor TC Federal Bank
Honoree Tom Rankin’s Grandchildren
Tom Rankin enjoyed the evening as family and friends were in attendance.
Board Chairman George Simmons “roasted” Tom before the Live Auction.
Tom is applauded for his service to Tall Timbers and commitment to the Red Hills region.
Auctioneer Charlie Whitney starts the Live Auction bidding.
Black Lab puppy with its new owner, the winning bidder. The puppy was donated by Blue Cypress Kennels.
Nilo Plantation hosted Tall Timbers’ Fall Field Day
Bill Palmer welcomes the crowd.
Tall Timbers’ Fall Field was back at Nilo Plantation, near Albany, Georgia, where the first field day was held. Interest was high as over 300 attended the event on Friday, Oct. 29. Under the tent, Tall Timbers’ President and CEO Bill Palmer welcomed the attendees. Tall Timbers’ Albany Quail Project director, Clay Sisson and Nilo general manager Garrett Jones spoke about the management history of the property since it was purchased by John Olin in 1954, and which has continued under the ownership of the Williams family—Nilo is Olin spelled backwards.
Clay and Garrett discussed land management activities that began with hardwood cleanup in 1994. They have since incorporated supplemental feeding, predator control and prescribed fire, which has produced some of the highest quail numbers in the region—the average over the past 3 years has been 12 coveys per hour! Also discussed by Tall Timbers’ quail biologists Alex Jackson and Justin Rectenwald was the quail hatch in the Red Hills region (Alex), and in the Albany region (Justin).
Standing in a peanut field, Garrett Jones discussed the trophy deer program at Nilo.
In the field, the topics discussed were: best management practices for wild quail; storm clean-up and reforestation with slash pine after a swath of destruction from a tornado in 2017, and damage from Hurricane Michael in 2018; management for trophy deer; management of early season dove fields; predator control and feral hog trapping, and the Nilo prescribed burning program.
We thank Nilo Plantation for hosting the event. The beauty of the property and its excellent management by Garrett Jones and his team were on display during the wagon tour. Tall Timbers is also thankful for the many sponsors who made Fall Field Day possible.
Tall Timbers’ Albany Quail Project director, Clay Sisson, left, with Garrett Jones, Nilo General Manager.
On the wagon tour stop at a dove field, attendees listen to Garrett Jones discuss management for early dove season.
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.
The 24th Annual Kate Ireland Memorial Dinner & Auction was held Thursday evening, October 14, 2021 at Tall Timbers’ headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida. The event honored long-time Tall Timbers’ Trustee Tom Rankin. It was a sell-out event, with over 400 in attendance.
Festivities included a cocktail reception, silent and live auction, and dinner served under a huge tent overlooking Lake Iamonia. The auction featured a compelling collection of world class artwork, unparalleled hunting and fishing opportunities, vacation getaways, and unique offerings from the Red Hills region and beyond.
