info on lochloosa

8/2/2019 Info on Lochloosa

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http://sjr.state.fl.us/archydro/factPages/LOL.html

Lochloosa Connector - River Styx closed on February 13, 2008. This 1,400-acre property will be thetwenty-first purchase by the County under this program, and the thirtieth tract on the Active AcquisitionList to be conserved. The River Styx is one of the keystone parcels in the Lochloosa Connector Project. Inthis region, the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) owns in full fee an additional

10,400 acres around Lochloosa Lake, and holds conservation easements on an additional 16,944 acressurrounding this tract. This entire area, known as the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area, connectsLochloosa, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historical State Park, andNewnan's Lake Conservation Area. SJRWMD and the County will equally fund the $4.6 millionacquisition and the SJRWMD will manage the property.

From FWC press releasehttp://www.floridaconservation.org/whatsnew/08/statewide/News_08_X_PlumCreek.htm

News ReleasePlum Creek Timber Company provides new home for 1,781 gopher tortoises

April 9, 2008Contacts: (FWC) Henry Cabbage, 850-528-1755;(Plum Creek) Heather Mikes, 239-898-0001

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Plum Creek TimberCompany took a major step Wednesday to set up a new home for 1,781 gopher tortoisesdisplaced by development.

A 570-acre site has been established within the Lochloosa Conservation Easement, nearOrange Lake in Alachua County, for relocating tortoises. This site has been designated

Unit 1.

This new site is a pilot project to help us understand the logistics of providing desirablegopher tortoise habitat and implementation of the new FWC Gopher Tortoise PermittingGuidelines, said Deborah Burr, Gopher Tortoise Plan coordinator.

These permitting guidelines were approved at the FWCs meeting April 9. Plum Creekreceived the FWCs first Recipient Site Permit for Unit 1 after the approval process. RobHicks, senior resource forester from Plum Creek, was presented with the permit during aceremony at the meeting.

"We are excited to be working with the FWC team on this pilot program to help designate asafe environment for relocating gopher tortoises," said Hicks. "Plum Creek has a history ofcreating these kinds of conservation agreements to provide for the long-term managementand protection of wildlife habitat across the country."

In 2007, the gopher tortoise management plan was approved by the FWC. Prior to July2007, tortoises could be relocated to such sites, or incidental take of the tortoises was
http://sjr.state.fl.us/archydro/factPages/LOL.htmlhttp://www.floridaconservation.org/whatsnew/08/statewide/News_08_X_PlumCreek.htmhttp://sjr.state.fl.us/archydro/factPages/LOL.htmlhttp://www.floridaconservation.org/whatsnew/08/statewide/News_08_X_PlumCreek.htm


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allowed under a permit issued to the developer. Under an interim permitting system, thecontroversial take permits were discontinued last July.

Since the plan was approved, numerous stakeholders have worked with the FWC todevelop new and more-appropriate guidelines for management of the species and permit

requirements, according to Burr.

The overall goal of the management plan is to restore and maintain secure, viablepopulations of gopher tortoises throughout the species current range in Florida.

Objectives include improving gopher tortoise carrying capacity on lands with existing orpotential gopher tortoise habitat; increasing the amount of protected gopher tortoise habitat;restocking gopher tortoises to protected and managed areas; and decreasing gopher tortoisemortality on lands proposed for development, Burr said.

This permit system has been designed to help accomplish all four of these objectives by

providing incentives to landowners to manage their habitat for gopher tortoises, animalsthat share habitats with tortoises, and other native wildlife species.

The plan also provides incentives to relocate and restock tortoises to protected, managedlands rather than unprotected sites, Burr said. The new permitting system requires that allgopher tortoises be relocated out of harms way, and the system provides for regulation andenforcement sufficient to ensure compliance with FWC guidelines and rules.

According to Plum Creek officials, the company is working with the St. Johns River WaterManagement District to expand the gopher tortoise relocation site to include all 16,470acres of the Lake Lochloosa Conservation Easement Area. That could allow forapproximately 17,000 gopher tortoises to be relocated. There is no other site of this size inCentral Florida.

Plum Creek is the largest and most geographically diverse private landowner in the nationwith more than 8 million acres of timberlands in the United States. The company owns andmanages more than 600,000 acres of forestland in 22 counties in Florida and is the secondlargest private landowner in the state.

Plum Creek is a leader in developing Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) complex, long-term management plans directed at protecting key species but also protecting many otherforest-dependent wildlife species.

Nearly 2.7 million acres of company lands are involved in wildlife protection agreementsthroughout the country.

http://alachuaconservationtrust.org/index.php?/alachua/archives/lochloosa/
http://alachuaconservationtrust.org/index.php?/alachua/archives/lochloosa/http://alachuaconservationtrust.org/index.php?/alachua/archives/lochloosa/


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(8) Lochloosa Wildlife Management Area

Posted on Nov 26, 2007 - 05:12 PM

ACT facilitated the protection of this property by re-submitting the proposal to Florida Conservation

and Recreation Lands (CARL).

Size: 27,333 acres

Activities: Seasonal hunting, fishing, hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, canoeing, boating, wildlife

viewing, and primitive camping at designated locations.

Location: Lochloosa Forest surrounds Lochloosa Lake in Alachua County, southeast of Gainesville

and southwest of Hawthorne. From the north access is off CR 2082 and from the Gainesville-

Hawthorne State Trail. Access from the east is off of U.S. 301. In Cross Creek, there is access for

hiking, biking or horseback riding from the parking area adjacent to the volunteer fire department on

the east side of CR 325. There is also access on CR 325, from Fish

Camp Road.

Managed By: St. Johns Water Management District

Phone: 386-329-4883

Website: http://sjr.state.fl.us/

http://community.icontact.com/p/floridaforest/newsletters/forestryfriday/posts/forestry-friday-4-11-08Gopher protectedThe Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) andPlum Creek Timber Company took a major step Wednesday to set upa new home for 1,781 gopher tortoises displaced by development. A

570-acre site has been established within the Lochloosa ConservationEasement, near Orange Lake in Alachua County, for relocating tortoises.FWC has a management plan now in place to make sure the gophertortoises are protected from development. The overall goal of themanagement plan is to restore and maintain secure, viable populationsof gopher tortoises throughout the species current range in Florida.
http://sjr.state.fl.us/http://community.icontact.com/p/floridaforest/newsletters/forestryfriday/posts/forestry-friday-4-11-08http://community.icontact.com/p/floridaforest/newsletters/forestryfriday/posts/forestry-friday-4-11-08http://community.icontact.com/p/floridaforest/newsletters/forestryfriday/posts/forestry-friday-4-11-08http://sjr.state.fl.us/http://community.icontact.com/p/floridaforest/newsletters/forestryfriday/posts/forestry-friday-4-11-08http://community.icontact.com/p/floridaforest/newsletters/forestryfriday/posts/forestry-friday-4-11-08

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