Archbold Biological Station
P.O. Box 2057 blkball.gif (842 bytes) Lake Placid, Florida 33862 USA
Phone:
863-465-2571 blkball.gif (842 bytes) FAX: 863-699-1927 blkball.gif (842 bytes) send e-mail

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LAND MANAGEMENT:
Stewardship of the Station's greatest asset

The 5,200-acre main property is Archbold Biological Station's greatest asset. Habitat management is a constant concern and is aided by excellent GIS capabilities. Management practices are dictated by both research and conservation priorities. An overall land managment plan for the Station is being developed. The Station also manages the Lake Placid Scrub Preserve, a State-owned 3,000-acre tract adjacent to the northwest corner of the Station, and the 10,300-acre Buck Island Ranch, site of the MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center.

Land Management Policies. All property is fenced and posted. Pets are not permitted on the property and other non-native organisms (feral cats, wild hogs, certain plants) are excluded to the greatest extent possible. Firelanes and roads provide access and fire control. Research programs are coordinated to minimize their effects on one another or on populations of threatened or endangered native species. Certain scientific collecting and experimentation is permitted after consultation with staff Research Biologists.

Lightning fires were prevalent throughout the region in presettlement times, creating habitats that were adapted to frequent burning. Therefore, fire is a key component of both research and land management at Archbold. The Station's fire management plan strives to balance the responsibility of maintaining the Station's biodiversity with the needs of research. Natural and prescribed fires are mapped in detail and these maps are digitized into the GIS. A detailed 30-year record of fire history, plus ample opportunity to prescribe and conduct research burns, provides one of the finest research sites for fire ecologists anywhere in the United States. Prescribed burning is used to maintain native species composition and structure, or to test hypotheses about responses of native elements or systems to different fire regimes.

The Station also owns three nearby satellite tracts. The Malcolm and Jeanne Watters Marsh is a 17-acre (6.9-ha) tract between Lake June and Lake Henry. The Harris Tract is an 8-acre (3.2-ha) shrub marsh on Lake Istokpoga, one of the largest lakes in the state. The Henry T. and Helen C. Price Memorial Tract contains 8 acres (3.2-ha) of scrub, hammock, swamp, and marsh habitat on the north shore of Lake Placid. These small tracts provide research opportunities in many habitats not represented on the Station's main property or on the Ranch.

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blkball.gif (842 bytes) Lohrer, F.E. (Editor). 1992. Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Florida, Sixth Edition. Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid. 28 pp.
© Archbold Biological Station, 1992, 16 October 1998, last revision 10 July 2003.
blkball.gif (842 bytes) Webmaster: Fred E. Lohrer  send e-mail