Stewardship

We had a very nice meeting with our Forrester Dana Sussmann of the Florida Division of Forestry and Biologist Leslie Hawkins of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and are anxiously awaiting our Forest Stewardship Plan. We will be posting the details here.

The plan is based on our objectives, and will include forest stand characteristics, property maps, management recommendations, and a five-year time line for future planning.

Our preliminary thoughts of what we would like to includes in our management objectives are:

	Have a firebreak around the perimeter of the property to help protect ourselves and others from fire.
	Remove the excess fuel from the entire property.
	Clear out any Palmettos and scrub. We really want to exterminate those ^%&$* palmettos <grin> - we don't mind having a few remaining for the wildlife.
	Remove the trees that will make good plylogs, chip-n-saw and thin the stand where needed. We will replant in the open areas.
	Once the palmettos are chopped, choose a site for our house. The area directly surrounding the house would be cleared to just specific large trees in order to utilize solar energy and to reduce danger of fire.
	Use part of the land to raise Christmas trees 5 - 10 acres - probably under the power lines.
	Use the balance for grazing as the land supports it.
	Areas unsuitable for grazing will be used for wildlife habitat and the occasional nature trail.
	We would also like a nice view around our home, but that is low on our list of priorities.

We receive a nice license plate and thank you letter.

Click on the links below for more information.

On December 13, 2002 we met with Dave Milard who is the District Conservationist with the Brevard Soil and Water Conversation District about qualifying for the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP). After he looked at our property, I filled out some paperwork outlining our goals for the land. In his opinion we have an ideal piece of land for WHIP.

We received a call from Mark Asleson with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. We set an appointment with him and Dave Milard on March 10, 2003 on the land to create a plan to improve the habitat for the wildlife.

I met with Mark and Dave. After looking at what the loggers had done they said that there was very little improvement for wildlife possible. The loggers had done the best job that they had seen. It created a lot of edge space as well as open areas. The only thing that they could recommend is if we are not able to burn this spring we should contact them to see about assisting us with burning this winter.

On April 23, 2003 we received our Forest Stewardship plan. Here is a .pdf version of it.