Tall Timbers Research Inc

Fire research and outreach staff focused on critical research focused on wildland fuels, fire behavior, fire effects, and smoke in our local red hills area, more broadly across the southeastern coastal plain, and across the us. Fire researchers produced 24 scientific publications in 2024. Staff made 27 presentations via webinars and conferences on the impediments to prescribed fire, smoke science and management, plant community responses to fire, and continued research on dendrochronology to determine fire history over the last five centuries. Scientists worked with university faculty and 4 graduate students from florida, alabama, louisiana, and washington. Staff assisted with advanced fire education and training through the national interagency prescribed fire training center, national advanced fire research institute, and national advanced silviculture program, across the us. Staff led prescribed fire outreach and application on > 30 sites working with prescribed burn associations across the longleaf legacy landscape in georgia, alabama, and florida. Staff engaged with managers and leadership of national fire management organizations in the departments of interior and agriculture on smoke and fire research and application priorities.

General research staff focused research and outreach activities in the conservation lands of northern florida and southern georgia on a diversity of species of conservation concern. Research on rare amphibians and reptiles was conducted at core study areas at tall timbers research station and livingston place and in georgia on private lands. We monitored populations of red-cockaded woodpeckers, gopher tortoises, striped newts, tiger salamanders, and inventoried wetland bird rookeries across the region. We initiated a resurvey of snake populations on tall timbers, 20 years after a similar survey was done by our staff. We also continued our multi-year research and monitoring project focused on feral hogs, not native to north america, but causing significant ecological damage to the region. This work was in collaboration with the us department of agriculture, the university of georgia, and local land owners and managers. We held two workshops to discuss the problem, detail our research findings to date, and to engage additional conservation partners.