By Neil Fleckenstein, AICP, Tall Timbers Land Conservancy
One of many services provided by Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy is a planning and advocacy program that supports our conservation efforts by working with local communities, landowners, and the public on a wide range of land use, community development, and transportation issues that could adversely affect the Red Hills Region.
Though we are still early in 2015, numerous projects, issues, and potential regulatory changes are in the offing in the Greater Red Hills Region. For example, in nearby Colquitt County Georgia, already home to more than 500 commercial poultry barns, a proposal to construct a large number of new poultry barns has galvanized many rural residents. (The typical barn is 600 feet long by 50 feet wide and houses 25,000 chickens). The proposed location of these new facilities, along a dirt road home to rural residences and hunting properties, led local landowners to successfully lobby the Colquitt County Board of Commissioners for improvements to the zoning code to better protect water resources. Specifically, the change requires that all poultry manure be stored in engineered litter storage facilities rather than outdoors, exposed to the elements. Tall Timbers staff, after reviewing the local zoning code and proposed policy changes and researching best management practices, supported landowners’ efforts to change the zoning code.
Commercial poultry houses in southwest Georgia.
Staying with the poultry theme, Grady County has also seen a spike in permit applications for commercial poultry barns. Since the beginning of 2015, applicants have applied for permits to construct 20 new commercial poultry barns in the northern portion of the county. Though Grady County has no zoning code, they do have an ordinance that establishes minimum setbacks for commercial poultry operations. The Grady County building inspector noted that the newly built barns will have a storage facility for manure to prevent stormwater runoff. Tall Timbers’ staff will be following this trend to determine if continued expansion of commercial poultry operations could present a threat to water quality and to our conservation interests in the Red Hills.
Meanwhile, in an effort to improve the process of regulating local development, Jefferson County, Florida is reviewing its countywide land development code. Upon request by local officials, our planning staff reviewed several sections of the code and provided comments and recommendations to county leaders to improve the code.
In Leon County, the Keep it Rural Coalition, a diverse group of rural landowners, successfully lobbied for a change in the land development code, restricting the ability for commercial development on local roads in the Rural Future Land Use category. The stated intent of the Rural category is “. . . to maintain and promote present and future agricultural land uses and to prohibit residential sprawl into remote areas lacking basic urban infrastructure and services.” More than half the acreage of hunting plantations in Leon County is in the Rural Land Use category with the remaining properties located in the county’s Agriculture, Silviculture, and Conservation category. Commercial development is still allowed in the rural category at the intersections of larger (non-local) roads. Tall Timbers supported the move to limit commercial growth to intersections of larger roads in rural areas as this is consistent with the intent of the Comprehensive Plan to limit urban sprawl and protect rural landscapes. The Leon County Commission unanimously endorsed the change to the land development code.
Leon County is now considering a citizen-sponsored amendment to the Tallahassee-Leon County Comprehensive Plan that would clarify which commercial uses are appropriate in the rural land use category. The purpose of the amendment is to clarify current language that supports allowing only minimal commercial designed to service the needs of adjacent residences and the needs associated with timbering and agricultural uses.
Lastly, at the direction of the Leon County Board of Commissioners, the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department will be undertaking a review of the Future Land Use element of the Comprehensive Plan. The Board directed the Planning Department to make the Future Land Use element and the Plan “less regulatory” and more “visionary and aspirational.” Significant change to the Future Land Use element could affect Tall Timbers’ conservation efforts in in the rural portions of Leon County. Therefore, Tall Timbers’ planning staff have already expressed interest in being involved in the evaluation process.
The strength of the Tall Timbers Land Conservancy lies in our comprehensive approach to conservation. Our involvement in wide ranging land use issues that could negatively affect the Red Hills, as well as in community education and awareness efforts extolling the importance of the region, provides Tall Timbers the greatest opportunity for ensuring the long-term sustainability of this irreplaceable landscape.
Should readers have any questions about these or other planning or advocacy issues affecting the Red Hills, please contact me at Neil@ttrs.org.
Tall Timbers monitoring implementation of Florida Amendment 1 Funds
By Kevin McGorty, Tall Timbers Land Conservancy Director
As the Florida Legislature begins its 2015 session in March, debate has already started over how to spend the billions of dollars that will be generated over the next 20 years from doc stamp fees on real estate transactions. In November, 75 percent of voters passed a constitutional amendment dedicating funds to acquire and manage conservation lands, restore and protect water resources, provide areas for recreation and keep ranches, farms, and forests as part of Florida’s rural landscape. Tall Timbers joined other leading conservation organizations in endorsing the Florida Water and Land Conservation Amendment, advocating for the expanded use of conservation easements as a way of keeping working lands in working hands.
This Legislature session will decide on the budget and the rules for Amendment 1 funding. The conservation coalition that sponsored the Amendment recommended first year funding at $170 million for Florida Forever land acquisition projects, $170 million for Everglades restoration, $115 million for land management, $60 million for springs protection, $39 million for Rural Family Land projects, $30 million for beach management, and $173 million to reduce debt service from previous bonds. Other state leaders, however, are recommending improving municipal water and waste-water systems. Local governments like the City of Tallahassee are calling for funding to expand sewer services to rural areas to decrease the number of septic tanks that impact springs. While the Amendment represents less than 1 percent of state funding, the competition for funds will be intense.
In January, Dixie Plantation hosted the 120th running of the Continental Field Trials. Since 1937, Dixie Plantation has proudly teamed with the Continental Field Trial Club to host the Annual Continental Open Derby and All-Age Championship Field Trials.
Embedded in the famed Red Hills Plantation Belt, Dixie is in the perfect location for the field trials, with over 6,000 of its 9,100 acres intensively managed for wild quail. In addition to prescribed burning, hardwood clean-up, seasonal disking, and other land management techniques; quail are fed year round and nests predators are kept in check. High density wild quail populations are a high priority for the field trials as well as hunting. Today the Continental Field Trials are recognized nationally as one of the premier wild quail trials in the country.
The Continental Field Trials are held the third Monday of January each year. There are two trials held back to back. The Continental Open Derby Championship is run first, followed by the Continental Open All-Age Championship. Winning the Continental Open All-Age trial entitles the dog to compete in the National Field Trial Championship, the highest honor a bird dog can attain.
The objective is for pointing dogs, primarily English Pointers and Setters, to locate coveys of quail and to point steady to wing and shot (the dogs freeze in that position as the handler flushes the birds and a blank shot is fired). The dogs are judged on their ability to find birds and their style and enthusiasm in doing so. In the Continental trials they run one-hour heats initially; those that qualify for call-backs run one hour and fifty minutes. This is a true test of stamina.
For more information about Dixie Plantation and the Continental Field Trials click here.
2015 Continental All-Age Championship Winners
Front row: Luke Eisenhart & Tommy Davis with Continental Champion Erin’s Wild Justice- Mark Haynes with Continental Runner-Up Champion Miller’s Dialing In Back rows: Tammy Eisenhart, Mike Sweet, Ed Mayhew, Randy Floyd, Gary Lester, Larron Copeland, Bart Goodson, Eddie Sholar, Gloria Hagan, Alpha “Too” Bright, Doug Vaughn (Judge), Tommy Stargell, Clay Sisson, Harold Ray (Judge), Aimee Atkins, John Thompson. Photo courtesy of Chris Mathan.
2015 Continental Derby Championship Winners
Front row: Luke Eisenhart and Tommy Davis with Champion Dunn’s Tried and True; Willis Wright and Tom Shenker with Runner-Up Champion Bayou Meta Jim. Back row: Ferrell Miller, Will Dunn, Reeves Lane, Ed Epp (Judge), Dr. Ron Deal (Judge), Bernie Matthys, Ronnie Spears, Alpha (Too) Bright, Randy Floyd. Photo by Rose Rodriguez
The partners of the Greater Red Hills Awareness Initiative (GRHAI) regularly contribute articles for the twice monthly column, “Exploring the Red Hills” published in the Tallahassee Democrat. Authors share stories celebrating the cultural, historical, and ecological wonders of the Red Hills. A few are listed here.
Monticello Opera House. Courtesy of Jefferson County Tourism Development Council
WFSU-TV recently produced a three-segment EcoShakespeare series exploring connections of culture and ecology during Shakespeare’s lifetime. Filmed against a scenic Red Hills backdrop, the series also examines current conservation issues in our region.
To view the EcoShakespeare segment on longleaf pine forests click here.
Puck and Oberon from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream filmed at Tall Timbers for WFSU’s EcoShakespeare series. Photo by Georgia Ackerman
Georgia Ackerman, project manager of the Red Hills Awareness Initiative, likes to bike commute to work at Tall Timbers because it’s a great way to observe wildlife. See her blog in the Tallahassee Democrat, “The Benefits of Slow.”
Do you have a favorite Red Hills place to explore? You can share your photos on our Facebook page. #redhillsregion.
To sign up for the Red Hills Happenings, an activity newsletter for residents, email Georgia Ackerman.
The lives of young animals are often shrouded in secret. Young animals rarely call attention to themselves and frequently are difficult to see simply because they are much smaller than adults. For many species, it’s a time in life to stay low, out of sight of predators, and simply try to get by until such time as you’re ready to act more like an adult.
Tom Radzio, a Ph.D. candidate at Drexel University, has been unearthing the rich, dark secrets of juvenile living for one of the most charismatic reptiles found in our pinewoods: the deep-digging Gopher Tortoise. Adults typically live for decades unless they’re killed by dogs, coyotes, or cars, but young tortoises face a broad host of threats ranging from predatory snakes to birds and small mammals.
To avoid these predators, juveniles can’t simply use the large burrows that adults use. Large burrows are often visited by snakes and other potential predators of young tortoises. Instead, Radzio has found young tortoises excavating burrows within hours of hatching. “They get right to it, often placing their first burrow under a small dead log and digging relentlessly like their lives depend on it.” Radzio says.
On the flip side of this need for shelter is the need for food and growth. For a gopher tortoise, that means getting your cold-blooded body up to a preferred temperature of around 90°F, a proposition that can be difficult to pull off in a deep, damp burrow.
Instead, juvenile tortoises spend lots of time basking in the sunlight, basically exposing themselves to help warm their bodies to a preferred temperature so that food can be processed and growth can occur.
Using video cameras and miniature data loggers, Radzio has found that young tortoises bask extensively right in front of the burrow entrance. In fact, the young tortoises take advantage of about 90% of opportunities they have over the course of a day to raise their body temperatures to their preferred temperature.
“When we go out into the field, we almost never see them out of their burrows, but the video tells a different story. They bask and move in and out of burrows all day long to keep a high body temperature, but hide just before we can see them,” Radzio notes.
Hatchlings also are very wary and use vibrations to detect potential predators, often hiding in response to putatively to non-threatening animals, such as curious Sherman Fox Squirrels.
The research suggests that the amount of sunlight reaching the ground near juvenile burrows is quite important to juvenile tortoises. Increased shading of the area surrounding burrows can take place as a result of fire suppression, over-stocked timber, and other land management practices. These practices obviously lower quail numbers as well, but also could reduce juvenile tortoise growth rates with potentially adverse population-level consequences.
Figure 1a & b. Hatchlings are very wary and use vibrations to detect potential predators. Sometimes they even hide in response to non-threatening animals, such as curious Sherman Fox Squirrels.
Figure 2a & b. The drive to bask is strong in young tortoises. Here a recently hatched tortoise emerges from its burrow to bask just 6 minutes after being visited by a Coachwhip (snake), a common predator of young tortoises.
Figure 3. American Toad enjoying an abandoned juvenile tortoise burrow on Arcadia Plantation.
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.
