The Southern Low Country and ACE Basin Longleaf Partnership (SoLoACE) Update

By Bobby Franklin, The Longleaf Alliance

The turning of the year found winter arriving in the Southern Lowcountry and ACE Basin. After a very balmy and rainy December, which saw many areas in our region have 2015 rainfall amounts of 65-75 inches, winter continued the rain and brought in seasonable temperatures. Needless to say, all of the rain put everyone behind on land management, timber harvesting, prescribed burning, site preparation, and planting of longleaf pine. Even hunting took a hit. However, because the swamps were full, feral hogs were on the high ground and many land managers reported success in hunting and trapping these wild hogs during the fall and winter! The SoLoACE Partnership reported other successes. In late January, 36 red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) cavity inserts were installed on South Carolina Department of Natural Resources land in the ACE Basin, awaiting RCW translocation efforts late this summer. We will be assisting with additional cavity inserts on private lands later this summer as well. In other activities, another Longleaf Stewardship Fund grant was submitted to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to continue the SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership efforts. Also, we continue providing technical assistance and outreach efforts to restore longleaf pine ecosystems and improve management throughout the Partnership Area and the state.

SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership would not exist without the cooperation & teamwork from the following partners: The Longleaf Alliance, Beaufort Open Land Trust, Clemson University, Ducks Unlimited, The Hitchcock Woods, International Paper Company, Lowcountry Land Trust, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, Nemours Wildlife Foundation, South Carolina Audubon Society, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, South Carolina Forestry Commission, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Savannah River Forest Station.

 Image 1: Field trip in Aiken, SC. Photo by Robert Abernethy. 

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