“Jim Stevenson Resource Manager of the Year” 2012 Awards are Announced!
Author: Dana C. Bryan, Environmental Policy Coordinator, Florida Park Service
Published in the CFEOR Updates Newsletter on May 10, 2013.
The spectacular public conservation and recreation lands of Florida are managed by hundreds of skilled staff chiefly from three state agencies: the Florida Forest Service; the Florida Park Service; and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The Jim Stevenson Resource Manager of the Year Award is given annually by proclamation of the Governor and Cabinet to recognize a superior land manager from each of these agencies. The award is named for Jim A. Stevenson, who contributed tireless leadership in ecosystem management, prescribed burning, exotic plant control, and springs protection during his long career with DEP’s Florida Park Service and Division of State Lands.
The 2012 winners are:
Chris Colburn, Forestry Supervisor II, Tallahassee Forestry Center, Florida Forest Service, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Chris Colburn works on Lake Talquin State Forest (LTSF), which is comprised of fifteen tracts totaling 19,347 acres in Leon, Gadsden, Liberty, and Wakulla counties. Chris provides all of the resource management planning to meet annual and 10-year management objectives for the Forest, provides all of the resource management oversight, and performs most of the silviculture and restoration fieldwork. In addition, Chris has filled in as the State Lands Forester on Wakulla State Forest and has provided technical support to both Wakulla and Tate’s Hell state forests. These are examples of his desire to provide quality management on all public lands.
Chris manages complex non- contiguous tracts, but consistently meets the management objectives for LTSF. He believes in a balanced approach in serving the public and private landowners surrounding the Forest. For example, Chris visits adjacent landowners when encroachment issues arise, rather than simply sending law enforcement out to handle the task. The proximity of urban areas increases the demand for outdoor recreation, and Chris consistently seeks to enhance current recreational opportunities and create new ones. He has strived to keep a good rapport and build a strong working relationship with recreation cooperators.
As state budgets have declined, restoration and reforestation goals have been more difficult to accomplish. Determined not to reduce needed work on LTSF, Chris has continuously searched for funding opportunities. He orchestrated a reforestation project on the co-managed Rocky Comfort Tract in which FFS built a bridge for FWC in exchange for restoration funding. Chris has also monitored the hardwood timber market to maximize revenue from hardwood timber sales and continue the restoration of hardwood encroachments back to native longleaf pine communities. Chris also secured mitigation funds through the Friends of Florida State Forests for wetland restoration and was able to completely reforest 145 acres, develop wildlife food plots on 5 acres, and provide hydrologic restoration on 38 acres of LTSF. He also worked with The National Wild Turkey Federation to provide turkey food plots on the Forest.
Under Chris’s leadership, the prescribed burn objectives for LTSF have been met or exceeded for the past several years. These efforts were recognized at a recent Management Plan Advisory Group meeting when LTSF received some of the highest ratings ever for restoration, prescribed fire and timber management. The TNC representative stated: “the ten year plan for Lake Talquin State Forest was the most progressive restoration/longleaf pine restoration document I have seen from any state or federal agency - I was very impressed.”
Matthew Allen, Park Manager III, Grayton Beach & Deer Lake State Parks, Florida Park Service, Department of Environmental Protection
Managers of beach parks have a lot to deal with, including beach crowds and facilities, campgrounds, cabins, boat ramps, and interpretive programming. But Matt Allen also seems to find the time to be a leader in natural community restoration. His two parks include five globally rare coastal dune lakes, which are fed by seepage streams. Prior to Matt’s arrival, these streams and associated wetlands had been inadvertently impaired by a network of back roads. Matt designed and completed 11 low-water crossings (so far), using geosynthetic fabric and rock configured in a manner that both reestablishes the former streambed elevation and creates a stable surface for work vehicles. The road widths were also reduced to eliminate rutting in adjacent pitcherplant habitats.
Matt has also led other restoration projects. One of his first was the restoration of 60 acres of sand pine plantation. Matt supervised the pine removal with little impact to the native oaks and groundcover, and replanted 20,000 longleaf seedlings at 300 per acre, achieving long-term survival of over 70%. Another major project was in the large wet prairies and seepage wetlands, noted for their diversity of carnivorous plants like pitcherplants, but overgrown with woody shrubs due to decades of fire exclusion. Beginning in 2010 with USFWS grant funding, woody biomass was removed using low-impact cutting techniques and mechanical mowing on five sites at Grayton Beach, followed by another four wet prairie sites and a seepage slope at Deer Lake. At both parks, the work has eliminated the canopy cover without significant soil disturbance, which has greatly reduced drying from evapotranspiration and has “released” the carnivorous plant community.
Matt also recognized that park firelines were in poor repair, and set to work establishing a total of 12 miles of perimeter line and 15 miles of improved internal line. He acquired needed equipment, including a Type 6 engine, two 400-gallon water tenders, a UTV with a pumper unit, a portable pump, and an ATV-mounted torch, and also converted a Type 7 engine. Additionally, Matt ramped up staff training, and since FY2010, the team has more than doubled the acreage in rotation and converted 964 acres from backlog to maintenance condition.
Matt also coordinates protection for shorebird nesting areas at both parks, and his efforts have resulted in nesting snowy plovers and least terns reaching record numbers. Loggerhead and green marine turtles also nest in the parks and staff conduct daily nesting surveys and install predator screening. For all these beach-nesters, Matt’s contribution is perhaps greatest in his commitment to remove non-native predators, including coyotes, red foxes, and feral cats. Tern and plover fledging success has increased as a direct result.
Justin Ellenberger, Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist III, Guana River Wildlife Management Area, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Justin Ellenberger serves as the lead area biologist on the 9,815-acre Guana River Wildlife Management Area (WMA). His implementation of successful restoration and management practices and his ability to work with a myriad of stakeholder groups has resulted in Guana River being a wildlife showcase and a popular destination for nature- based recreation.
Guana River WMA contains almost 2,000 acres of mesic flatwoods. Justin led an aggressive shrub reduction program using mowing and roller chopping along with prescribed fire. Northern bobwhite, brown-headed nuthatch, and striped newt are the grateful beneficiaries of Justin's aggressive program. Guana’s 800 acres of scrub had also deteriorated to xeric hammock and over several years, Justin has contracted cutting of the oak canopy. The 600 acres restored to date is back in an appropriate fire rotation and provides excellent habitat for gopher tortoise, Florida mouse, and other iconic scrub species. There were very few wild turkeys at Guana River WMA prior to 2002 because of the disappearance of early successional habitat. Following the restoration work, it was decided that turkey reintroduction would be successful, and five years later, the population had rebounded to the point that a wild turkey hunt was implemented.
Guana’s 2,364-acre impoundment, Lake Ponte Vedra, is managed with a complicated regime of flooding and drawdowns to manage food availability for the tens of thousands of waterfowl and wading birds that utilize the lake, including the imperiled wood stork and roseate spoonbill. Six smaller impoundments also are managed for aquatic wildlife. Justin oversaw a contracted project on McNeil's Pond that removed over 43,000 cubic yards of cattails and muck to restore an open water habitat for waterfowl and wading birds that had disappeared as the pond had filled in.
Guana River WMA is a very popular area for nature-based recreation, with over 13,000 visitors per year. Justin worked with the equestrian community and installed mounting blocks and hitching posts. He and his staff constructed a kayak launching station at an observation tower/picnic area on Lake Ponte Vedra and also funded and installed two wildlife-viewing blinds. These projects, in addition to the numerous interpretive displays, boardwalks, and observation towers, show Justin's dedication to providing valuable recreational enhancements.
One of Justin’s greatest attributes is his willingness to volunteer for assignments that often take him away from his home and family. For example, he served 14 days on the Suwannee Complex of fires in 2007 and 14 days on the Bunnell fires of 2011. At Bunnell, Justin was a strike team leader, leading a multi- agency crew of wildland fire engine operators, and was lauded for his work by his crew and by Incident Command. So as we often see in stewardship leaders, Justin’s contribution goes “beyond the boundaries”.
A hearty congratulation to all three winners of the 2011 Jim Stevenson Resource Manager of the Year Award! You exemplify the skillful stewardship of Florida’s exceptional public lands.