Monthly Update July - December 2011

July-December

            All silvicultural practices have been completed at Geneva.  The remaining mulched areas had herbicide applied with a skidder in September.  The herbicide site prep was completed at the same time.  Oust was added to the tank mix for early spring weed control.  The sites were burned and planted in early December by Ketchum Land Timber. 

            Choccolocco herbicide site prep was applied aerially in mid October.  As with Geneva, Oust was added in the tank mix for early spring weed control.  Tanyard Timber has installed the fire lines and the site is ready to burn.  Depending on rainfall, planting will likely be completed in early January by Timberland Silvicultural Services.  The planting will conclude the longleaf restoration projects at Choccolocco.

            Perry Malone Forestry is scheduled to control burn Baldwin in December.  The site was previously burned early in 2011.  The mulched area was sprayed in October and the longleaf planting area was released in November.  The understory demonstration area will be disked this winter following the control burn. 

            The newest and final project is developing a seed production area at the Hauss Nursery near Atmore, AL.  The site will be prepared this winter and planted in the spring with two native understory species (Smooth Indiangrass and Tall Ironweed).  This project will be a joint effort between LLA, Alabama Forestry Commission, and Creek Indian Enterprises.

Monthly Update February - June 2011

February – June

            March wound up the final 262 acres of mulching at Geneva.  The dry conditions allowed the contractor to extend complete some areas they were unable to operate in last year.  The sites are being allowed to resprout and will be ready for a fall herbicide application.  

            Stands with harvest completed are scheduled for herbicide site prep at Choccolocco.  CPS was awarded the bid for the site prep and containerized trees have been secured from International Forest Co.  The acres at Choccolocco were about half of the original plan so additional planting acres have been added at Geneva.  CPS was awarded the site prep and trees have been secured from Blanton’s Tree Nursery.

            Work continues at Baldwin.  Interpretative panels have been installed at the kiosk.  The third cogon grass control was applied.  The cogon grass areas have been reduced substantially and gallberry and other native plants are beginning return to the site.   During June and into July a demonstration area will be prepared for native understory planting.  Later this fall, herbicide will be applied to last year’s mulched area, the planting area and the understory demonstration area.

            Three signs were designed and printing describing the work on the forests, they have been installed at Little River, Geneva, and Choccolocco.

Monthly Update -December 2010 & January 2011

            Construction of the pavilion, kiosk, and state forest sign were completed at Baldwin.  The kiosk will contain four panels describing the restoration activities at Baldwin, including longleaf pine restoration, fire driven habitats, life cycle of longleaf pine and examples of flora and fauna that can be seen there.

            The final 250 acres are currently being mulched at Geneva and expected to be completed this spring.

            The site prep burning and planting at Choccolocco were completed.  Tanyard Timber and the Commission spent several days burning the individual parcels.  Given fuel load and weather conditions, the burn was adequate.  Ketchum Timber was scheduled to start planting January 10^th; however the winter storm delayed the start for several days.  Planting was completed January 21^st.

            During the next two months we will continue mulching at Geneva and complete the 2^nd prescribed burn at Baldwin.  The interpretative panels to be installed at the kiosk should also be completed and installed. 

Monthly Update - October & November 2010

             

Work at Baldwin and Geneva continued through the fall.  The second cogongrass application at Baldwin was completed.  We have gotten good control and plan to spot treat areas where needed in the spring.  Perry Malone Forestry will prescribe burn Baldwin again this winter.  There is plenty of fuel available on the ground and burning the cogongrass thatch will aid in targeting the spring herbicide application.  The pavilion was completed in November and the signs are currently under construction.

Crop Production Services completed the ground herbicide application on the mulched areas at  Geneva in October.  Jones Vegetative Management has begun mulching the final 250 acres.  Next fall these mulched areas will have herbicide applied to complete the Geneva work.

   

Monthly Update - September 2010

September

                September concluded the first year of Longleaf Restoration Project.  As I was developing projections for the upcoming year I figured it is a good time to recap our accomplishments.  Out of the original $1,220,765 we have spent $711,776.50 and contracted for another $217,547.25. 

At Baldwin, we burned 180 acres, completed the first cogongrass control treatment, mulched 6 acres, planted 1 ½ acres of containerized longleaf and also planted native grass plugs.   A second cogongrass treatment is scheduled for October.  We have contracted with DCS Contractors to build a pavilion, entry sign and interpretive kiosk.  Next spring we will have the 3^rd cogongrass control treatment applied.  Baldwin is well underway to becoming a demonstration forest.

At Choccolocco, 251 acres were mowed, 256 acres were chopped, all 654 acres have been herbicided for site prep.  We have contracted with Tanyard Properties to burn the site prepared areas and Ketchum Land & Timber will plant those areas this winter with containerized trees from International Forest Company.  In early spring we will apply weed control to the areas that were did not receive a fall Oust treatment during site prep.

At Geneva, 230 acres were planted with longleaf following herbicide site prep.  Weed control was applied late spring; this was delayed due to inadequate root growth.  We feel there will be good survival considering the cold December temperatures.  The regeneration portion of Geneva is complete.  After 7 months of mulching and large amounts of rain, we completed 1,250 acres.  Crop Production Services is currently spraying those acres for understory control.

At Little River, 406 acres were mowed and herbicide was applied for understory control.  The roads surrounding the cone production areas were also reworked to provide better access.  In addition, this grant paid for the planting of 70 acres of longleaf seedlings.  The Little River project is complete.

During 2009 and 2010 scholarships for 46 participants for the Longleaf Academy were provided.  The remaining scholarships will be awarded for spring of 2011 Academies.  Finally, the brochure on development and publication of Economic Case for Longleaf Management is under development and will be ready for publication by the end of 2010

Summer 2010 Update

June/July/August


The summer months have slowed our activities. Many projects were completed or have plans to be completed in the next few weeks.

The mulching crews at Geneva finished during June. We were able to complete 1,250 acres and these stands are resprouting nicely and will be ready for herbicide in September.

The 236 acres of ground-applied herbicide site prep at Choccolocco was completed June 24th – 26th by Timberland Silvicultural Services. The remaining 418 acres of site prep herbicide will be aerially applied in September. We have added Oust Extra to the mix that will give the spring weed control. We have solicited bids for site prep burning and planting.

At the end of June 2,000 grass plugs, (yellow, slender, and lopsided Indian grass and pineywoods dropseed) were planted at Baldwin. During the road project, the contractor created openings along the main road and we took advantage of the fresh tilled ground for a native grass demonstration. In July, approximately six acres were mulched for understory control and we have scheduled a release next year to control the resprouting. This area will be a good comparison between burn only and mulch, spray, burn. Also during July we site prepared 1.5 acres of open area by mulching strips and then planted approximately 850 longleaf trees. Even though it is not normal to plant trees in the heat of July, it does show the timing of planting or interplanting can be extended beyond the traditional months.

Crop Production Services completed the ground application of herbicide to control the understory at Little River. A contract with CTS Construction has been secured to rework the roads around the improved seed collection areas. This will complete the work at Little River.

We met with Ms. Linda Casey and Patrick Glass of the Alabama Forestry Commission and Mr. Glen Gaines of the US Forest Service to discuss future plans for the ARRA money. We are projecting that funds will be available after completion of our planned accomplishments. By extending the agreement time frame and the availability of these funds, we will be able to establish 400 more acres of longleaf, further enhance the demonstration forest and continue to improve the longleaf seed collection areas.

Monthy Update - May 2010

The cogongrass was sprayed May 20th -21st at Baldwin. We are soliciting bids on the signage and working on other projects that will enhance the demonstration forest.


Herbaceous weed control was applied on the planting at Geneva. We originally contracted a banded application but the application was delayed to allow the new trees to begin root growth. In the interim, the competing vegetation made it difficult for the applicator to follow the rows. Timberland Silvicultural Services was able to treat 36 acres of ground application and then Crop Production Services completed the remaining 194 acres of aerial broadcast. Jones Vegetation Management completed their portion of the understory mulching in May. Bach and Devos will finish in early June. We are 200 acres short of the 1,400 acre goal. If the weather and ground conditions permit, we will try to complete the remaining acres during the summer months.


Chesnut Forestry has been working at Choccolocco retreating kudzu spots from last fall.