Georgia Sentinel Landscape Partnership
Georgia Conservancy-led project will conserve and enhance lands in South Georgia
Throughout 2023, the Georgia Conservancy facilitated critical prescribed fire cost-share funding to private landowners across counties identified by the Georgia Sentinel Landscape partnership, a partnership of Georgia-based organizations and agencies whose mission is to protect vital habitat through the conservation of working and natural lands in South Georgia.
The Georgia Sentinel Landscape is comprised of 60 counties across southern Georgia and encompasses working and military lands integral to Georgia’s economy. Restoring prescribed fire to the landscape will reduce the potential for catastrophic wildfires while adding ecological benefits to our longleaf pine forests and wildlife.
Our Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) funding helps encourage new landowners to implement prescribed fire, supports existing prescribed fire practitioners, and helps restore fire ecology on private lands. We are excited to continue and expand this much-needed program with our partners while we work to provide Georgians with land stewardship solutions.
Our FY2023 Outreach Numbers:
Number of landowners engaged: 219
Number of landowners enrolled in the program: 23 (pre-approved.)
Number of learn & burn or other outreach events: 14
Number of counties receiving outreach: 60
Are you a landowner interested in more information? Please reach out to Georgia Conservancy Land Stewardship Coordinator Jason Alstad at jalstad@gaconservancy.org or 912.447.5910.
About the Georgia Sentinel LanDscape Partnership
During the summer of 2020, the Georgia Conservancy began its role as the lead partner in leveraging a $2.1 million award made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the Georgia Sentinel Landscape, a partnership of Georgia-based organizations and agencies whose mission is to protect vital habitat through the conservation of working and natural lands in South Georgia.
“I’m excited to announce the first RCPP awards under the 2018 Farm Bill,” said USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Matthew Lohr. “Through collaboration and aligning our resources toward a common goal, we’re making an impact for natural resource conservation that could never have been realized on our own.”
The USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) is a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on private agricultural and forestry lands. The RCPP award will allow for Georgia Sentinel Landscape partners to address key land conservation and stewardship priorities.
The Georgia Sentinel Landscape will utilize these funds to address certain land conservation needs and support agricultural producers while enhancing military readiness goals. A portion of the funding will be used to enhance habitat management in ecologically-significant areas, including the native longleaf pine ecosystem. The remainder of the award will provide for conservation easements on working farms next to military lands. This important aspect of the project will be completed by land trusts in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program.
Beginning in 2022, the Georgia Conservancy and partners utilized this land management funding to expand prescribed fire and firebreak-related practices in a then 11-county focus area to improve the longleaf pine ecosystem. Click here to read our September 2021 announcement with USDA’s NRCS.
Eligible landowners in these now expanded Georgia counties have the opportunity to improve potential and existing Gopher Tortoise habitat through land management contracts involving conservation practices like prescribed fire and firebreaks.
Gopher Tortoise by Steve Rushing
“The RCPP funding will help us meet several of the Georgia Sentinel Landscape goals, including the enhancement of habitat for the threatened Gopher Tortoise, a keystone species,” notes LTC (Ret) Ken Bradley, Georgia Sentinel Landscape coordinator. “At the same time, these funds contribute to the success of our Georgia military installations by assisting local landowners in continuing compatible agricultural and conservation activities in our military communities.”
The Georgia Sentinel Landscape is a partnership of:
Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
NGOs, including The Georgia Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, The U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities, The Longleaf Alliance, The Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, and other land trusts.
State agencies, including the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia Forestry Commission.
The partnership was formed in 2017 to coordinate state conservation priorities across a broad area of South Georgia.
“The Georgia Sentinel Landscape partnership is a wonderful example of how Georgia’s land and people can benefit when we leverage our collective resources and collaborate on common goals,” says Georgia Conservancy President Katherine Moore. “The Georgia Conservancy is proud to work with our partners to put forward conservation solutions that also align with the needs of our federal government. The landscapes conserved and enhanced by the RCPP funding will have a lasting impact for generations to come.”
Learn more about Sentinel Landscapes
Questions? Please contact Georgia Conservancy Land Stewardship Coordinator Jason Alstad at jalstad@gaconservancy.org
