During 1999-00 land management at Archbold Biological Station experienced important transitions. In August 1999, Kevin Main accepted a position with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and he now manages numerous sites on the southern Lake Wales Ridge (LWR) including the neighboring Lake Placid Scrub Wildlife Environmental Area. Kevin’s work during his tenure at Archbold set the stage for future land management activities that support research.

In spring, 2000, Archbold appointed Rick Anderson as land manager. Professionally, Rick served as a firefighter with the Florida Division of Forestry for 5 years before serving with the National Park Service. Rick is an experienced land manager who has honed his skills in some of the nation’s most challenging landscapes (Yellowstone, the California chaparral of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Sky Island mountain ranges of southern Arizona) and in each of these areas he met the challenges of habitat fragmentation, exotic species invasion, and wildland fire management.

Interagency cooperation. With continuing land use changes on the southern LWR , cooperation among land owners with differing management objectives is essential. Cohesive strategies for managing fire safely and effectively will ensure successful management of critical habitats. In 2000 efforts for cooperation were successful. Florida Division of Forestry firefighters conduct fire management activities alongside Archbold firefighters to meet common safety and land management objectives. Cooperation develops better understanding of Archbold’s mission and safer and more effective fire management operations.

In response to an enormous backlog of unburned prescribed-fire units, the LWR Office of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has hosted the Florida Scrub-jay Fire Strike Team (Team). With this dedicated crew of fire practitioners, agencies and cooperators such as Archbold have additional resources to implement fire management for LWR preserves. During 2000 Archbold provided training and in-kind support to this valuable resource. Protracted drought and burn bans hindered the implementation of many prescribed burns. In December 2000 the Team assisted Archbold by burning 5 acres in Tract 31 (fire unit 60b; see map, this page), and land mangers from TNC’s Tiger Creek Preserve assisted Archbold with a 126-acre burn in the Hicoria Tract (fire unit 71). Archbold firefighters (and equipment) assisted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and TNC with burns at LWR preserves.

With the Assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Archbold began planning habitat restoration of the Lousy-10 Tract along State Road 8 adjacent to the original property. The NRCS provided coordination with Florida’s departments of Education and Corrections and Archbold to provide recruits from Highlands and Polk counties to assist in the restoration project. The recruits will use Archbold Scrub Curriculum to provide participants with an education opportunity in conjunction with the project. Volunteers from the TNC’s Ridge Rangers program and Archbold interns also participated in the planning and implementation of this project.

Interns. Land management internships serve an essential role at Archbold. Foremost these internships provide participants with valuable experience in the complex challenges facing professional land managers and Archbold benefits from the creativity and energy that interns bring.

During 2000, four land management interns each served 12-week appointments at Archbold. Erica Taeker, Stacey Vojtek, Devon Corbett, and Liz Louckes (in order of service) all contributed to several project initiated in 2000, including habitat-restoration at the Lousy-10 Tract. Under the direction of the Land Manager and with substantial assistance from Archbold staff and GIS Manager Roberta Pickert, interns identified and mapped native species and several invasive exotics on this tract. Photo points and vegetation plots were established to monitor the restoration process.

We also began an important project about fire-weather data. Protocols for the collection of dead fuel moisture were developed and sites for collection of these data were selected. The samples are weighed and measured daily to give a quantitative measure of actual moisture levels in fuels that helps predict fire behavior for that day. Protocols were also developed to measure the moisture content in the living tissue of the most common fuels such as oaks and palmettos. As scrub vegetation burns well when fuel moisture approach certain thresholds, this sampling is critical for fire behavior modeling. Fire behavior modeling creates predictions that are the cornerstone for safe and effective fire planning. The work of land management fills this important gap in scrub fire behavior knowledge. We also began an important meteorological dataset. Using Archbold weather data we developed a graph which displays daily trends in temperature and humidity. Knowledge of these trends will also contribute to better fire planning by indicating when conditions exists that are favorable for meeting specific objectives. For example, observation from these data may decrease prescribed fire escapes by indicating when spot fires are most likely to occur. With this information burn bosses may better avoid the conditions that cause control problems on the fireline.