Carolina Wildlife Syndicate Seeks Focus On Francis Marion Forest

Lots of land to manage in the Francis Marion

The recent history of the Francis Marion National Forest just north of Charleston is well known after being brutalized by Hurricane Hugo. Now in 2018 more forestlands in Southwest Georgia have taken a similar blow from Hurricane Michael. What lessons can be applied from the Hugo model to help the renowned quail hunting grounds in Georgia to recover quickly. With ten times more debris on the ground after a catastrophic hurricane, prescribed fire seems a likely solution. The recently formed Carolina Wildlife Syndicate, made up of public land hunting enthusiasts, supports the use of prescribed fire in the Francis Marion and applauds the new Good Neighbor Authority program.

            

On December 12, 2018 the U.S. Forest Service announced a new 10-year conservation partnership with the S.C. Forestry Commission and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Rather than listing this as a Memorandum Of Understanding, the agreements are called the Good Neighbor Authority and Stewardship Contracting. With 250,000-acres of land, and still growing, the need for inter-agency cooperation is ever present, but the overlapping management plans in place thus far have not gelled when it comes to wild game species recovery.

David Strickland of Mount Pleasant is the founder and lead moderator of the Carolina Wildlife Syndicate (CWS). “The CWS was created to unify the public and private land hunters, to provide a voice to communicate with each agency and the associated political networks,” said Strickland.  “We support the new agreement in the Francis Marion and view this as just a step towards proper habitat management for bobwhite quail,” said Strickland, a wild game management consultant. “We support the use of traditional prescribed fire which must include proper timing, return intervals and fire intensity. We have documented areas of intense thermal pruning in the Francis Marion where fire is applied every two years, and that practice must be modified.

To view the entire feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.

To view past blog entries about hunting quail in the Francis Marion click on 2013.

To view past blog entries about prescribed fire click 2015 Prescribed Fire Council - 2015 Longleaf Alliance Fire Academy - 2015 Prescribed Fire - Education Options - Plowing Firebreaks - 2014 Dry Weather Fire Threat - SCDNR Prescribed Fire - 2013 Prescribed Fire - 2012 Prescribed Fire - 2009 Wildfire - 2009 Prescribed Fire Council