Printed Edition
Prescribed Fire Training Center reaches burning milestone
eNews
Spring 2015 • Vol 8 • No 2
By Greg Seamon, Fire Training Specialist
The National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center (PFTC) reached an historic milestone on April 16, 2015, with its one millionth acre prescribed burned. Begun in 1998, the Center has been training students from around the globe, offering experiential learning through the hands-on application of prescribed fire throughout the southeastern US. Tall Timber’s provides the Fire Training Specialist at the Center, as well as orientation field trips during the 20-day sessions. The two modules this April that helped surpass the millionacre achievement were comprised of federal employees from the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, a state employee from Pennsylvania and PFTC’s first-ever attendee from Italy. On the day the mark was made, the teams were burning at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach, Florida, and Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park in Haines City, Florida. PFTC has trained over 2,100 wildland fire professionals and resource managers in the importance of ecologically-managed prescribed fire. Attendees have participated from all the federal
Fifty shades of spring: wild turkey ramblings By Theron M. Terhune and Aaron Griffith
It’s that time of year where the fresh smell of the woods on fire is in the air, and prescribed burning is the focus for most quail managers to keep habitat in check, but for turkeys, breeding is on the mind. As such, springtime is a delightful time of year for the avid turkey hunter in the South, especially when gobbles abound. There is something about that assemblage of syllables, sounding like a cross between a yodel and a clap of thunder, vibrating the trees at daybreak that sends a chill up one’s spine. Indeed, it’s gobbling that makes spring turkey hunting so excit-
Stefano Macrelli, from Italy, igniting the sawgrass marsh from an airboat at Loxahatchee NWR.
land-managing agencies, as well as numerous state agencies, the Department of Defense, non-governmental organizations, and private companies. There have been students from 49 of the 50 states and 17 countries outside the US. Though the Center does not have any land it manages, it has cooperating agreements with federal and state agencies, as well as with universities and NGO conservation entities, such as Tall Timbers, that allows the training modules to burn at over 250 sites across the southeast. ing and worth the pursuit. As most hunters are aware, on some mornings birds gobble their heads off, while other mornings they don’t gobble at all, even when the conditions seem perfect. Generally, there are two peaks in gobbling: the first typically occurs well before mating begins, and the other during peak incubation. We are currently studying the gobbling activity on multiple sites in Florida, and we have anecdotally observed some interesting patterns such that peaks in gobbling vary from year to year and even site to site. We also know that the timing of these peaks may vary by many factors such as latitude, hunting pressure, weather, or overall bird density. However, it is less clear as to why daily gobbling varies beyond the influence of weather at a particular site from one day to the next. – Turkey rambllings on page 2
Hens that are ready to breed typically go to the gobbler — not the other way around. When hens slip off to lay eggs or begin to incubate a nest a gobbler may “become lonely” and increase their calling behavior or even begin to seek hens out during these times. But, how big and how far are these birds moving?
exact tree) for one to a few days, and alternatively roost somewhat randomly in between on a circuitous movement pattern. Currently, about 15% of our tagged turkey hens are incubating nests, so if you are managing for optimal turkey reproduction, wrapping up burning soon would be ideal.
Our current research using backpack-style GPS transmitters is providing us some insight into gobbler movements. So far, we are observing that gobblers will commonly go on long-distance forays, ostensibly in search of a hen ready to breed. In fact, it is not uncommon for individual gobblers to move as much as 1.5 and 2 miles a day or up to 3-4 miles a week! We have also been studying roost site fidelity to better understand how loyal gobblers are to certain roost areas.
In summary, part of the answer to why a bird doesn’t gobble on a good day may be because they simply aren’t there — they may be out seeking a receptive hen to breed. However, we have seen that gobblers often will return to the same area, and many times to the same exact tree, where they’ve roosted previously, so there is some truth to being patient, and perhaps persistence can pay off.
Gobblers seem to exhibit a flexible roost site behavior, whereby individual gobblers have varying roosting strategies. Some show higher roost site fidelity than others, but most seem to have 2–5 primary roost sites that are spatially clustered which they visit frequently and numerous others that are less frequented roost sites and more spatially dispersed. The distance between primary roost site locations vary somewhat but are commonly about 0.4 miles apart, with a total circuit being 1 to 2.5 miles (see Figure 1 below). A pattern we are seeing evolve is that gobblers remain loyal to primary roost-site areas (even the same
North American Coastal Plain Plants Database By Kevin Robertson, Fire Ecology Program Director
When it comes to native plants in our region’s pinelands, we know surprisingly little about most species. That is why the Fire Ecology Program, with help from Tall Timbers Beadel Fellow Gil Nelson and the University of Florida Small Collections Network, has begun work to develop a wiki-type website to collect information about native plants in the Coastal Plain. After conducting a survey of plants native to pinelands in the Red Hills Region of northern Florida and southern Georgia, we found that over half of the species have nothing published about them except for a basic description in taxonomy books. Of course there is much more to know about plants, such as how they respond to fire, when they flower and how their seeds are dispersed, what their preferred habitat is, and what pollinators visit them. Although little has been published, professional biologists and amateur plant enthusiasts alike have a great deal of knowledge about plants from their extensive field experience, often recorded in notes and photographs from years of observation. The contribution of their first-hand knowledge and other resources to a forum where it can be publically shared will be beneficial to many in natural resource fields, including wildlife biologists, ecologists, entomologists, and others.
Figure 1. Roost site locations for two gobblers (one yellow, one red) during spring 2015, on Tall Timbers. Green-circled regions outline spatial clustering of roost sites which indicates primary roosts sites or areas with high roost site fidelity.
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The primary role of the Fire Ecology Program will be to monitor the website and reach out to plant experts and encourage their contribution through invitation, interviews, and possibly workshops. If you are interested in being a contributor, please contact Kevin Robertson. We look forward to learning from what you have to share.
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers pass an important milestone By Jim Cox, Stoddard Bird Lab Director
The reintroduction of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers passed yet another important milestone this Spring. A young male woodpecker has excavated a natural cavity in an area approximately 300 meters from the nearest group of artificial cavities. This type of territorial budding is rarely observed, but it’s a clear indication of natural population growth and expansion following the initial release of woodpeckers on Tall Timbers in 2006. The new cavity has been excavated in a short-leaf pine in the northwest section of the property. Appropriately, it’s in an area where we’ve been planning to excavate a few artificial cavities to help the population expand, which indicates that woodpeckers and woodpecker biologists can see eye to eye. As a result, Tall Timbers now supports 10 potential breeding groups and has the potential to add one or two more breeding groups before the property will be saturated. Here are the other important milestones that have occurred during reintroduction.
The Tale of the GT Cruiser By Kim Sash, Conservation Biologist
Biologists often refer to gopher tortoises as ecosystem engineers. They provide a borrow averaging up to 15 feet in length that up to 350 different species, including insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians, have been documented to use as a refuge. These burrows offer safe havens by providing warmer, safe places in winter and cooler, humid conditions in the summer. The burrows have also been documented to offer refuge for a quail to avoid an avian predator, or a lizard to escape a prescribed fire. This species is also currently listed as a candidate for Federal listing in our portion of its range. Showing that tortoises are doing fine in the Red Hills, and elsewhere in Florida and Georgia,
Field testing the GT cruiser; L-R: Jane Bartley, Bridget Leen, Colin Riley
EVENT
YEAR
First successful nest
2007
First helper at nest
2008
First natural cavity excavated
2009
First locally produced breeder
2010
First immigrant female
2010
First immigrant male
2011
60% occupancy achieved
2011
First locally produced breeding pair
2011
First double brooded territory
2011
may help preclude their listing as an endangered species. For these reasons, a gopher tortoise survey crew led by Rebecca Zeroth has been out counting gopher tortoises in the Red Hills. As part of the survey, the crew needs to scope every burrow found in order to count tortoises within. Often a gopher tortoise will use multiple burrows, so counting just burrows would lead to an inflated and inaccurate count of tortoises. So for the rest of the summer and into the fall, Rebecca and her crew will be scoping burrows and counting tortoises. We currently use a “scope” or a stiff hose with a camera mounted on the end that is fed down the borrows, so we can document if a gopher tortoise is inside. This process works fairly well, but the scopes are cumbersome to manipulate and the process can be physically arduous and time consuming. For a long time, I’ve had the dream of building a robot scope. Something sleek and quick that could crawl down a gopher tortoise burrow with a mounted camera and would reveal which creatures call that burrow home. I saw the chance to turn this dream into reality when I heard about a professor at FSU, Dr. Jonathan Clark, who builds robots. I decided to contact Dr. Clark to see if he would like to collaborate on a project to build a robotic gopher tortoise scope. Dr. Clark suggested that this would be a great idea for a FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Senior Design Project. With an industry problem to solve and a bit of financing, the seniors at the engineering school will design and build your dream project. Teams of students choose from a list of potential projects — this year there were 31 total — which included a pedibus, a rotocraft, a solar desalinator, and even a palm – GT Cruiser continued on back page
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Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy • 13093 Henry Beadel Drive • Tallahassee, FL 32312-0918 CALL 850/893-4153 • FAX 850/893-6470 • DONATE www.talltimbers.org GT Cruiser continued –
fruit harvester. Some of these projects, like those sponsored by NASA, have huge budgets, while others serve niche industries with more limited budgets. The teams of students work on their chosen project for their entire senior year. Tall Timbers sponsored six students: four mechanical engineers and two electrical engineers. Most of these students had never seen a gopher tortoise before, let alone a gopher tortoise burrow. We started off by scoping a few burrows on Tall Timbers, so they could get a feel for the inside of a burrow and the kind of terrain the robot would have to crawl over, under, and inside. The students then continued to work on the project and have given several midterm presentations. As their sponsor, Tall
Timbers was invited to attend these presentations. I could not have been more impressed with the students, their creativity, passion, and intelligence gave me hope for future generations. As the semester is winding down, the “GT Cruiser” (I told you they were creative!) has become a reality. While it is still in development and has some kinks to be worked out, the project has become more than just building a gopher tortoise robot scope. I’ve gotten to know these students, admired the work they can do, and have been inspired by their passion and ambition. Little did I know that the gopher tortoise, an ecosystem engineer, would help me to meet some great future engineers who will undoubtedly become successful members of society.
Red Hills Spring Dinner at Dixie Plantation By Kevin McGorty, Tall Timbers Land Conservancy Director
Rosemary RipleyThe elegant historic main house at Dixie Plantation played host to some 270 dignitaries and guests attending the Red Hills Spring Dinner on April 2. The biennial event celebrates land conservation efforts in the greater Red Hills Region of north Florida and south Georgia. Enjoying the evening were congressional representatives Gwen Graham and Austin Scott, former Congressman Allen Boyd, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putman and former FSU President T. K. Wetherell. Cornelia Corbett, Chair of Tall Timbers’ Board, thanked and recognized Rosemary Ripley who represented the Livingston family, and who was a trustee of the Geraldine C.M. Livingston Foundation. In 2013, the Foundation gifted the 9,100-acre estate to Tall Timbers for future research and conservation. Mrs. Ripley thanked Tall Timbers “…for your vision and courage of taking on a project of this magnitude…our hopes and dreams are with you in preserving places like this for future generations.” The featured dinner speaker was John Flicker, former president of the National Audubon Society and current president of Prescott College. Mr. Flicker reminisced back 25 years ago to the first dinners of the then Red Hills Conservation Association (now Tall Timbers Land Conservancy). Back then the event was fondly known as the “cold butt dinner” as the attendees sat on metal chairs freezing with the stiff winter wind blowing off Lake Iamonia. Flicker had a serious message to deliver. He remarked, “As I look ahead at the future of conservation, I don’t think our limiting factor will only be about money. It will be about people and building the next generation of conservation leaders who value land conservation and who have the skills and motivation to carry on the work. Unless we build this new generation of
people who make conservation a priority, everything we have fought to accomplish during our lifetimes will be lost.” He went on to say, “Young people today do not grow up on farms. They don’t have the woods behind the barn like I did. They live in cities and they John Flicker spend increasing amounts of time at computers and iPhones. They learn a lot about the environment in school, more than I did. While they are literate about the environment, they don’t have personal experiences in nature — they lack an emotional connection.” He offered a series of educational reforms and a new learning model that Prescott College will be offering its students. The new model will integrate digital technology with hands-on direct project experience off campus. He believes more small colleges will be heading this way. Having recently overseen his first graduation as the new college president, Flicker stated, “I always try to remember why I am doing this. It’s about our students. It’s about those values I learned as a kid playing in the woods on the farm. Those are the same values that bring us all back here to this beautiful landscape. It’s why we protect places like this, and why we want your children and grandchildren to experience these same things out in nature and grow up with those same values, so they will carry on after us.” The evening’s program concluded by honoring Lela and Buck Mitchell of Pine Fair Plantation, Bob Balfour of the Balfour Land Company, and Donna McCollum and Hays Cummins of the Big Bend Wildlands Preserve for recent conservation easement donations to Tall Timbers.