Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) is an accredited non-profit land trust working to protect the natural, scenic, recreational, and historic resources across 22 counties in North Central Florida. ACT has been a contributing partner to Burning for Birds Conservation Collaborative since its inception and is proud to serve as a lead organization for the partnership this year.

Learn more

Putnam Land Conservancy (PLC) is a non-profit land trust, whose mission is to conserve land and water for people and wildlife in and around Putnam and surrounding counties in North Central Florida. Since 2006, PLC has facilitated the conservation of over 5,000 acres.

Learn more

About this Partner Project

After two years of successfully shepherding and expanding the Collaborative, Tall Timbers has passed the drip torch to ACT to serve as the lead for the third phase of this project. In addition to providing project coordination and administrative oversight, ACT is also working towards restoring a part of one of its own nature preserves to create better bird and wildlife habitat. ACT’s Land Management and Fire Staff are working to establish and maintain a demonstration burn unit at Little Orange Creek Nature Preserve in Hawthorne, Florida. The burn unit is located along the preserve’s Sandhill Restoration Trail, which will allows for public access both before and following burning.

ACT is working with the North Florida Prescribed Burn Association, Alachua Audubon Society, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Natural Resource Student Interns to prepare the unit for burning; establish locations where before and after photographs will be taken; conduct pre- and post-burn bird surveys; and conduct a growing-season fire in the unit.

The focus of ACT’s bird surveys will include the Northern bobwhite, Eastern towhee, Bachman’s sparrow, brown-headed nuthatch, loggerhead shrike, as well as other Florida State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) species. All Data will be logged in eBird and maintained in EpiCollect. ACT also has plans to install several interpretive panels about prescribed fire, target bird species for this project, and the Conservation Collaborative within the preserve.

Map of the burn unit at Little Orange Creek Nature Park.

Our partners at Putnam Land Conservancy (PLC) will assist ACT with targeted outreach to private landowners about the benefits of growing-season fire and invite those landowners to the preserve to view the demonstration unit and learn more about the project and the opportunities for burning on private lands. ACT and PLC will host at least two public events at the preserve for the general public, private landowners, and/or students which will incorporate hiking through the unit, learning about prescribed fire, and receiving instruction on how to use eBird to document bird species while on the preserve.

ACT’s Creekside Environmental Ed for Kids (CrEEK) program, which provides immersive environmental instruction to K-12 students from underserved schools in Alachua and Putnam counties, will also incorporate a visit to the demonstration unit as part of their program curriculum addressing prescribed fire and birds.