Skip to main content

Field Tour: “Prescribed Fire and Ecosystem Restoration: Lessons from the Fall Line Region”

In conjunction with the upcoming Alabama Prescribed Fire Council meeting, the Southern Fire Exchange and The Nature Conservancy have organized a free half-day field tour on September 12, 2013 at the Blackjack Crossing Tract in Talbot County, Georgia. The site lies within the Fall Line Sandhills significant geographic area (SGA) for longleaf pine conservation and is part of the Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership’s (CFLCP) Conservation Area anchored by Fort Benning Military Installation. You can learn more by visiting the CFLCP website or The Nature Conservancy’s webpage describing the project.

The local TNC staff will lead an exciting tour of several sites at Blackjack Crossing that demonstrate various stages of longleaf pine restoration efforts that include several different “starting points” for the restoration program. The tour will also showcase a 10-year-long research study site that demonstrates the influence of prescribed fire seasonality and longleaf pine overstory density on subsequent understory vegetation. The tour will also visit a seepage bog / wetland and include a discussion on the use of prescribed fire to maintain and improve wetland habitat.  While intended for managers, resource specialists, researchers, and students, this event is open to anyone interested in restoration and management in the Fall Line area.

Check-in begins at 8:30 am and the field tour begins at 9:00 am. The tour will return to the check-in site around 12:00 pm. Participants will park onsite and the Georgia Forestry Commission has partnered to provide trolleys to transport participants on the tour. Blackjack Crossing is located off Highway 96 between Geneva and Junction City in Talbot County. Click here to view a location map. More detailed directions will be sent to registered participants. If you have any questions please contact the Southern Fire Exchange (sfe@ifas.ufl.edu).

Register early; the tour is limited to 35 participants!  Registration Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/7851539165

Please feel free to distribute this flier to others: GA_Fall_Line_Tour_Flier

*This information was provided by The Southern Fire Exchange