Fort Stewart/Altamaha Longleaf Pine Restoration Partnership

Georgia Sentinel Landscape Awarded Grant

By Randy Tate, The Longleaf Alliance

The Georgia Sentinel Landscape’s (GASL) proposal “Establishing the Georgia Sentinel Landscape” has been approved for funding at the $150,000 level by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities.  The Executive Committee of the GASL was notified on August 8, 2018, of the award.  The award will be used to hire a GASL Coordinator to help leverage funds from various sources to achieve the goals of the GASL.

While the Fort Stewart/Altamaha LIT is a significant part of the GASL, the designated landscape is much larger.  The entire GASL is 4.5 million acres, while 1.3 million are being considered “critical” acres.  There are nine Department of Defense (DoD) installations and five DoD Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Programs (such as Army Compatible Use Buffer Programs) associated with the installation.

The four focal areas for the GASL include continuing to enlarge REPI buffers to DoD installations, the Georgia Gopher Tortoise Initiative, maintaining clean water along the Savannah River Watershed through improved land management and easements and focusing on expanding protection, and lessening development impacts along the Georgia coastline.

Currently, more than 20 partner organizations make up the GASL and we hope it will continue to grow.  This new award from the U.S. Endowment is a big step in growing the landscape and achieving our goals.

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Georgia Sentinel Landscape logo. 

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