conservation program

"Conservation on the ground" best describes the Station's Conservation Program. Adaptive management practices along with feedback from research helps direct conservation priorities.  

The Station contains a mosaic of habitats such as sandhill, baygalls, marsh lakes, xeric hammock, basin swamp, clastic upland lakes, upland mixed forest, basin marsh, and sandhill upland lakes. This diversity of communities offers a wide array of habitats and organisms for study. Approximately 516 species of plants and 284 species of vertebrates have been catalogued for the Station and of these, 26 are fish, 27 are amphibians, 45 are reptiles, 149 are birds, and 35 are mammals. The Florida mouse, Sherman fox squirrel, eastern indigo snake, gopher tortoise, striped newt, rosemary wolf spider, bald eagle, gopher frog, and black bear are some examples of species that frequent the site. Cataloging of invertebrate species is ongoing.

Prescribed Fire
As in many of Florida's pyrogenic communities, prescribed fire is our primary conservation tool used to maintain the natural fire regimes. Prescribed fire, also known as controlled burning, is the skillful application of fire to wildland fuels in either their natural or modified state, under specified environmental conditions which allow the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and at the same time to produce the intensity of heat and rate of spread required to attain planned resource management objectives.

A combination of dormant and growing season prescribed burns as well as lightening ignited fires are utilized to maintain the longleaf pine-wiregrass community on the Station. The fire program integrates habitat management with education/training and research as often as possible. An example of this is the annually mentoring opportunity for students to participate on prescribed fires with wildland fire professionals from the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center at Ordway-Swisher in the winter and spring months.

Why do we Burn?

Fire is a natural process in many plant and forest communities. Removing fire from these has the same results as taking rain out of a rain forest. Plants and animals that depend on fire are lost. Frequent fires remove the build-up of excess dead, flammable plant material that can result in destructive wildfires when the woods ignite from a lightning strike or a careless match. Prescribed burning recycles nutrients back into the soil that supports new growth. Fire dependent species, like longleaf pine, are choked as seedlings by competing species that are naturally neutralized by fire. Frequent fires maintain the open, park-like condition in pine forests that early explorers and settlers traveled through with ease. Prescribed fires maintain the scenic beauty of the landscape, because many plant species depend upon fire to trigger the setting of blooms and seeds for the continuation of the species. Frequent fire maintains plant and animal diversity in the landscape, enhancing habitats so that the land is able to support healthy plant and animal populations. There is no real management substitute for frequent fire. Seeing smoke from a prescribed burn means there is good land management and stewardship going on. Prescribed burning helps prepare sites for planting new forests, and helps manage pasture and range lands. Prescribed fire helps prevent the loss of property and protects Florida's timberland values, especially in the urban/wildland interface.