Sandhill grassland ecosystem with 243 native plant species now protected in Columbia County
Published:
Tags:
A 518-acre property that is home to 243 native plants is now protected as an easement in Columbia County. (Provided by North Florida Land Trust)
A 518-acre property in western Columbia County within the Ichetucknee Springs Focus Area and the Santa Fe and Suwannee River watersheds is now protected under the NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.
It’s one of the first agreements protecting a Grassland of Special Environmental Significance in Florida under the program.
The property features an exemplary sandhill grassland ecosystem, dominated by an intact old growth diverse groundcover that has been actively managed with prescribed fire by the family for multiple generations, according to North Florida Land Trust, which partnered with Alachua Conservation Trust on the project. Prescribed fire management has also benefited the more than 243 native plant spec
An effort is back in the Senate to permanently set up a statewide office to consider climate change impacts, as environmentalists wait for a new chief resiliency officer to be appointed.
The Great Reclamation (forthcoming from Riverhead Books in 2022) and
Suicide Club (Henry Holt, 2018), which has been translated into ten languages worldwide and won the Gladstone Library Writer in Residence Award 2020. Rachel’s short fiction has appeared in
Glimmer Train,
Best Small Fictions,
Best New Singaporean Short Stories, and elsewhere. An excerpt from her story “Coffins Patch” can be found here. It appears in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of the
What was your original impetus for writing “Coffins Patch”?
I’ve always wanted to write a story about work, specifically, what it is to be female and to be deeply passionate about one’s work. And though I never wanted to be a marine biologist, I did use to scuba dive! The weightlessness, the clumsy equipment, the heartbreaking experience of visiting bleached or dying reefs all of it is very dear to me.
Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Daily News
The town should fight to keep a disputed beach access trail open to the public despite a private company’s claim that it owns the property, said Town Attorney John Randolph.
In a memo this week to the mayor and Town Council, Randolph said islanders and non-islanders alike have used the Root Trail beach entrance for decades and the town should pursue a so-called prescriptive easement to allow for continued public use.
Randolph is scheduled to discuss his recommendation at Tuesday s council meeting, which could lead the town to deny a request to install a 6-foot-tall locked gate along the 20-foot wide opening north of The Breakers.