Longleaf and the Apalachicola River Watershed
Intent will be to bring general awareness which will hopefully spawn involvement and engagement addressing issues impacting this watershed. Even though this watershed is recognized as among the most diverse, productive, and economically important natural systems in the southeastern United States that many advocate should be nationally recognized equivalent to the Everglades or Great Smokey Mountains, much of the local community is unaware and disengaged. (I just learned that harvesting of Apalachicola Bay oysters will be suspended for 3 years which possibly could have been avoided had some of the challenges been effectively addressed.)
Furthermore, there is opportunity to leverage the success and efforts of America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative as a nexus. With the dominant landcover being silviculture, largely forested and rural in nature, including over 600,000 acres of public land, this watershed contains nationally significant longleaf pine forests with some of the highest biological diversity east of the Mississippi River.
Ideally, material from this course could be compiled and consolidated to serve as a clearing house of information to foster awareness, input, and engagement within the community, possibly through a community blog. Another potential medium I would like to explore beyond this course is opportunity to potentially integrate this information within the local school system through existing programs and initiatives. There are numerous conservation education programs in place intended to help build a child’s connection to nature, to build capacity for reaching youth, and to emphasize the value of forests and healthy physical activity outside. To effectively implement the above will extend beyond this course and will require much collaboration.
