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Why We Manage
Lands
Wildlands Conservation
has assembled a team of ecologists and land managers led
by David Sumpter and Rob
Heath that
have collectively managed tens of thousands of acres of
land for the state, several counties, as well as private
large land owners. Wildlands Conservation also manages
mitigation areas and conservation easements
set aside for the protection of both wetlands and uplands
with species-specific management objectives.
Wildlands Conservation has helped
create and execute well over 50 plans for
preserves, parks, and private land owners throughout Florida,
ranging in size from 15 to over 15,000 acres.
The development
of land management
plans, an effort led by Laura
DiGruttolo, typically includes site characterization,
baseline surveys, identification of management strategies
and monitoring protocols, and assessment of issues such as
public use. Resource management plan development often
involves working with stakeholder groups that have varied
interests in how areas are managed. Our strategy is
to first understand the property, the needs of the various
stakeholders, and work on compromises to ensure the interests
of all interested parties.
Management implementation often
includes habitat restoration and ongoing management activities
such as prescribed burning and exotic species removal. Currently,
we are responsible for managing various preserves and conservation
easements in several counties throughout Florida.
Why Do
We Manage Lands?
All preservation areas,
no matter where they are located, require some form of
management. Why? Because through time man’s
influence has altered the effects of natural processes. In
a typical Florida preserve, for example, fire has probably
been suppressed and exotic, invasive exotic species have
probably been inadvertently introduced. Therefore, appropriate
management strategies are likely to include the application
of prescribed fire and the control of invasive exotic
plants and animals.
The question with
any management is, how intense of a management effort
is needed? The intensity of this land management
effort is directly related to four fundamental characteristics:
(1) the unique characteristics of the preservation
area,(2), the preserve’s interaction with the
adjacent lands and environment, (3), our operating
budget and man power, and (4) in light of these
former circumstances, the desired management objectives. In
other words, what do we think we can practically accomplish
given any preserve’s unique set of characteristics?
Natural Florida
is defined by several factors that equate to the need
for an intensive management efort that must be continued
in perpetuity.
Because of the high incidence
of lightening strikes, natural Florida has become
dependent on fire. Therefore, managers must apply
fire to approach natural conditions.
Because of its subtropical
location, Florida is highly susceptible to invasive
nuisance exotic (nonnative) species that often out-compete
our native plants and animals. Natural areas
in more temperate climates are not as susceptible to
these exotic invasions. Therefore, managers must diligently
control these nuisance exotic species. |
Fire
All plants and animals that
live in the uplands (non-wetlands) of Florida are
adapted to fire. Some plants can’t germinate
without fire. Animals that live in uplands
have learned to flee fire (birds); others have learned
to create and seek refuge (like gopher tortoise and
all the animals that share their burrows). Without
fire, these plants and animals cease to exist and
other plants and animals thrive.
For generations,
we’ve looked at wildfire as a bad thing. Consequently,
fire has been suppressed as our landscape has developed.
This has led to the build up of flammable fuels and
the alteration of the vegetation’s structure. Additionally,
interruptions in contiguous expanses of fire-dependent
habitat stop wildfire. These interruptions or
manmade “firebreaks” include cleared lands,
roadways, and canals, to name a few.
Obviously, wildfire
is not compatible with many land uses, including development
and many forms of agriculture. Therefore managers are
tasked with the management objective of re-introducing
fire in a safe and responsible way that is not only
compatible with adjacent land uses, but maintains the
natural characteristics that need fire. This
is done by carefully planning prescribed burns under
safe conditions on blocks of land that are secured
by firebreaks that ensure the fire is contained.
Through time, as
our landscape becomes more developed, this task becomes
increasingly difficult and requires land managers to
adjust their plans to accommodate the ever-changing
landscape.
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Exotic
Species
If we do not diligently work
to control exotic species, they can effectively dominate
our landscape and alter the subtle balances that have
been established through time. For example, melaleuca, a
native of Australia, still dominates thousands of acres
in south Florida. It would be worse if not for
the efforts of land managers to contain this species
for the past two decades. The Cuban treefrog feeds
upon many of our native treefrogs and disperses easily
by “hitchhiking” on cars and vehicles from
one location to another. This species is slowly
beginning to dominate the amphibian community in large
portions of our state, particularly to the south.
As with fire, controlling
exotic species becomes increasingly difficult as our
natural landscape becomes more fragmented. These
fragmentations represent dispersal opportunities for
some of these exotic species. For example, a
transmission line that traverses a preserve is a conduit
for exotic species dispersal. Maintenance vehicles
often inadvertently spread both nonnative plant seed
and animals just by conducting periodic maintenance
checks on their utilities.
Lastly, good management
requires a check and balance system. How are
we doing as managers? This requires careful monitoring
of selected criteria: possibly the abundance of certain
plants or animals, both desirable and undesirable.
The sooner we begin
managing, the more cost effective both ecologically
and economically. This is because the longer
we wait, the more work is needed to get things back
to where natural processes can be maintained simply. Additionally,
in our ever-changing landscape, the longer we wait,
the more our natural preservation areas become hemmed
in by suburban development which arguably complicates
management.
This reality is
best remedied by long-term, visionary landscape planning
where our community planners consider the compatibility
of various land uses to the neighboring uses. Just
as we design our communities to ensure that dance clubs
are not neighboring day care facilities and schools,
we need to consider the compatibilities of land uses
on the landscape scale. This is why managers
are increasingly interacting with community planners
to explain and educate on the need to consider land
use compatibility.
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