Ocala Longleaf Pine - Private Lands Work, Sharing Information, and Plans for the Future

By Cheryl Millett, The Nature Conservancy

The Ocala LIT worked with The Longleaf Alliance and Florida Forest Service (FFS) to conduct a Longleaf 101 at the FFS Withlacoochee Training Center in Brooksville, Florida from April 14-16, 2015. The 30 participants were a good mix of county foresters, private lands biologists, private landowners, and a utility company land manager.  Reviews are still being compiled, but everyone was engaged and one private landowner said, “This class was an eye-opener. I can visualize what I want now and know how to say it. I learned about what I have and what it could be.”

On February 10^th, outreach talks continued with a presentation of “Investing in a Forest that Fire Built” to 45 Ridge Audubon Society members and to the Alachua Environmental Protection Advisory Committee on March 3^rd.

The Ocala LIT Coordinator has been focused on GIS, exploring the recently-released FFS statewide Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Geodatabase to consider its applications for setting LIT priorities.  The Ocala LIT Coordinator also participated in the Longleaf Partnership Council meeting on April 6-7^th to learn about range wide efforts and provide a LIT level perspective, particularly about the mapping prioritization work now occurring in Florida.  Additionally, private lands work continues through the incentive program with FFS!

Image 1:  Field activity during the recent Longleaf 101 Academy in Brooksville, FL.  Photo by Cheryl Millett.

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