PERDIX attends Fall Field Days in South Georgia and central Florida
PERDIX has always worked closely with wildlife biologists to develop products and services that provide practical and sustainable wildlife management solutions. This past October, members of our team travelled to the USA to continue their ongoing product development work with Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, based near Tallahassee, Florida. Tall Timbers carries out applied research into the biology and management requirements of northern bobwhite quail, and other wildlife associated with fire-dependent habitats. They are also at the forefront of prescribed fire science and management in the US.
While visiting Tall Timbers, PERDIX also had the pleasure of sponsoring and attending their two Fall Field Days in Georgia and Florida, where we were able to demonstrate the latest version of our PERDIXPro Project Management System, which we are very excited to be launching at the end of the year.
PERDIX arrive at Tall Timbers to work alongside research staff.
The first Fall Field day was held at the Jones Centre at Ichauway, a plantation located an hour north of Tall Timbers HQ, in Albany, Georgia. Initially acquired as a hunting preserve by Robert W. Woodruff in 1941, Ichauway has evolved through applying proven land management practices developed by prominent conservationist and pioneering forest ecologist, Herbert Stoddard, as well as creating and applying findings from its own research programs. The area consists of nearly 30,000 acres of woods, water and wildlife, with the centre’s research and management aiming to understand the natural systems of the southeastern coastal plain, including longleaf pine ecosystems, aquatic functions and wildlife interactions.
PERDIX Managing Director, Dr. Dave Butler, at Ichauway Fall Field Day, speaking to guests about our PERDIXPro Project Management System and remote monitoring devices.
Its hunting interests and management also promote and support huntable bobwhite populations, and this was one of the main focus’ of the day. The day began with a gathering of land managers, conservationists and other researchers, and after introductions and updates on the past bobwhite quail breeding season and prospects for the upcoming shooting season from Tall Timbers and Ichauway staff, visitors loaded onto trailers and headed out on a tour of the plantation.
Various stops were made along the way, which gave guests the opportunity to witness high quality bobwhite habitat of open pine forest with early successional groundcover. Staff and researchers provided fascinating talks on the management prescriptions used and the results that have been achieved.
Fall Field Day guests listening to a talk about bobwhite habitat management and the associated benefits to wider wildlife, including significant increases in the plantation’s red-cockaded woodpecker populations.
The second Fall Field Day was half a day’s drive away from Tallahassee, to Escape Ranch in Kenansville; around 40 miles south of Orlando. As the team travelled down Interstate 75, the continuous pine trees of northern Florida became less and less, and the landscape opened up and flattened out into areas of pasture, larger wet prairies, bay heads and swamps.
Entrance to Escape Ranch, Kenansville, Florida.
With an acreage of just under 14,000, the ranch demonstrates excellent bobwhite habitat interspersed by other upland and wetland areas. The property is maintained for the uses of game shooting, other recreation and, as the name suggests, cattle ranching.
Escape Ranch works very closely with Tall Timbers, with a number of its land managers and researchers based at the ranch. It also provided excellent hospitality to the many guests attending the Fall Field Day, including the PERDIX team, who were once again able to chat to visitors about remote wildlife monitoring via PERDIXPro. After breakfast and introductions, guests were invited on a tour of the ranch via trailer, where bobwhite monitoring and management were discussed, including the use of innovative technologies such as autonomous tractors to spread supplemental food and create habitat patches.
PERDIX stand at Escape Ranch Fall Field Day.
Guests of Escape Ranch listen to Tall Timbers researchers about predator management for bobwhite conservation.
PERDIX would like to thank Ichauway and Escape Ranch for their hospitality and showcasing their inspirational conservation work, and to all the staff at Tall Timbers for our ongoing collaboration and for our kind invitation to attend these fantastic days.