Through public and private conservation sales, best management practices and good stewardship, JOE has protected more than 170,000 acres, or more than 250 square miles to date. Many of northwest Florida’s state parks, state forests and wildlife refuges were created in part with JOE land. These large land sales keep ecosystems in tact and provide corridors for wildlife. Furthermore, JOE provides recreation leases on more than 600,000 acres in Florida.
In addition to land preservation, JOE practices active land management. Through thinning and controlled burns, JOE is converting rows of slash pine into natural, park-like habitats. Controlled burns exceed 30,000 acres annually.
JOE is also protecting and restoring Longleaf Pine Forests, habitat for Red-cockaded woodpeckers, Panama City Crayfish, Flatwoods Salamanders and gopher tortoises. These forests once covered more than 60 million acres from Virginia to Texas. Today, less that three percent of these forests remain. JOE maintains 1,200 acres of these pines as part of a conservation area at Wetappo Creek. Restoration activities include regenerating longleaf stands in the Conservation Area and in other mitigation areas with suitable upland habitat, replacing slash pine with longleaf pine.