Much of the LPEGDB data is thanks to the dedicated efforts
of FFS County Foresters who field assessed almost 850,000 acres of potential
longleaf in 8 months!
FNAI helped
develop the rapid assessment protocol and trained 40 foresters on its use in
the field.
In addition to the rapid
assessment, the LPEGDB contains information from many other sources including
field data collected by FNAI and our partner agencies like US Forest Service,
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and
the Water Management Districts.
To date
these efforts have confirmed 2.15 million acres of longleaf in the state and we
can report ecological conditions on 78% of those areas.
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| Collecting data in a longleaf community. |
On the interactive map users can toggle Ecological
Conditions layers to display summaries of vegetation structure and composition
for the canopy, shrub, and ground layers.
Healthy longleaf pine ecosystems are characterized by much
more than their iconic trees.
Assessment
of vegetation at different levels gives a picture of overall condition and can
help guide management and restoration priorities.
In their natural condition, these fire-adapted,
open landscapes have one of the highest diversities of flowering plants in North America and are critical habitat to a host of rare animals including gopher
tortoises, fox squirrels and red-cockaded woodpeckers.
Land managers often focus on restoring appropriate
fire regimes to help restore the natural biodiversity and ecological processes
of these communities.
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| Regenerating longleaf seedlings. Photo by Gary Knight. |
Check out the map and provide feedback. The map reflects the latest version of the
database– LPEGDB v.3— just published in September 2015, and we are pleased to
continue our partnership with FFS to update the LPEGDB in 2016. For latest details on the project and other
longleaf links please visit our longleaf webpage.
