The land trust for the mississippi coastal plains HWY 57 restoration site is a privately owned 80.39-acre siteconsisting entirely of wet pine savanna habitat near the U.S. Fish and wildlife services…

Under a $114,654 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service's Coastal Program (CFDA 15.630), the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain will restore 80.39 acres of wet pine savanna habitat near the Mississippi Sandhill Crane Refuge. The project utilizes mechanical mulching, chemical mowing, and bush hogging techniques to establish alternative restoration methods and explore their ecological and economic viability. This effort builds on the organization's prior $49,797 Cooperative Agreement with the agency to conduct similar alternative habitat restoration on a smaller scale. The goal is to increase suitable habitat for endangered species in an increasingly urbanized area where prescribed fire is difficult. The project will be implemented over a three-year period from October 2023 to September 2026.

The land trust for the mississippi coastal plains HWY 57 restoration site is a privately owned 80.39-acre siteconsisting entirely of wet pine savanna habitat near the U.S. Fish and wildlife services mississippi sandhill crane refuge. This project utilizes successful methods from the FY21 proposal which restored 40 acres of pine savanna habitat nearby. These alternative pine savanna restoration techniques include mechanical mulching and chemical mowing which are vital to maintaining these systems in an increasingly urbanized world. Prescribed fire has long been and will remain the priority management technique used in restoring savanna ecosystems on larger, less threatened parcels. However, smaller urban parcels make prescribed fire difficult for land managers to perform safely. The objectives of this project are:1. Establish alternative mechanical and chemical restoration techniques for pine savanna ecosystems whilerestoring 80.39 acres,2. Further explore both the ecological and economic viability of these techniques,3. Characterize methods of improving the process and add to FY21S research on methodsthe property will be mechanically mulched in august and september of 2023 followed by a chemical site prepbroadcast spray on any woody stemmed resprouts. Herbicide will be foliar applied using targeted backpack sprayers. The property will then be mowed the following year via tractor equipped with a bush HOG attachment followed by chemical treatment of woody resprouts in september and october of 2024. Maintenance of the property will consist of bush hogging followed by chemical treatment of woody resprouts yearly each spring. The methods and research provided by this study will provide landowners with an alternative method of restoring pine savanna habitats which will potentially increase the amount of suitable habitat for the endangered species.