North Florida Land Trust Preserves More Than 860 Acres in Bradford County
North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) has acquired and permanently protected 860.55 acres in Bradford County, securing a critical piece of land within both the Ocala-to-Osceola (O2O) Wildlife Corridor and the Camp Blanding Army Compatible Use Buffer Zone. The $5.42 million acquisition was funded by the Army National Guard (ARNG) and the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program, with additional support from the Florida Defense Support Commission.
“This is a significant property for connectivity within the O2O, and strengthens the regional conservation network,” said Allison DeFoor, president and CEO of NFLT. “We’re excited about what this means for wildlife, water resources and the long-term protection of Camp Blanding’s mission. Camp Blanding has been an outstanding conservation partner, helping ensure these lands remain protected in their natural state forever. The time to protect Florida’s natural lands is now.”
The property was previously owned by Rayonier Forest Resources, LP, which managed the land for timber production. The 860-acre tract lies adjacent to and south of NFLT’s Triangle Preserve and the Suwannee River Management District Santa Fe Swamp Conservation Area. Its location expands a growing network of conserved lands that support wildlife movement, protect water quality and strengthen climate resilience across Northeast Florida.
The land includes significant floodplain storage and provides natural buffers to wetlands associated with Prevatt Creek, a tributary that contributes to the headwaters of the Santa Fe River. Protecting this property helps maintain the ecological integrity of the watershed. The site also supports habitat for a wide range of wildlife, including deer, turkey, and black bear, all of which are well documented in the area. NFLT will own and manage the land, which has future potential for public access, including hiking trails and passive recreation opportunities.
The O2O Corridor is a 1.6-million-acre network of public and private lands connecting the Ocala and Osceola National Forests. The acquisition strengthens one of Florida’s most important connected landscapes and helps safeguard its ecological health for generations to come.
STUDY FINDS ROBOTIC MOWERS IMPROVE FLORIDA LAWN HEALTH WHILE REDUCING MAINTENANCE
For many Florida homeowners, lawn mowing can feel like a never-ending chore, especially in the heat of summer. New guidance from experts suggests autonomous or robotic lawn mowers can ease that burden while effectively managing Florida’s hardy lawns, including St. Augustine grass.
“The simple question was, can a robotic or autonomous mower’s lower cut height at 2.4 inches maintain hardy St. Augustine grass?” asked Bryan Unruh, UF/IFAS West Florida Research & Education Center associate center director. That was a major concern since, for most warm-season grasses,, a height average between three and four inches is recommended.
According to the recently published UF/IFAS WFREC research, the answer is yes. Autonomous mowers not only reduce manual labor and gas emissions but also improve the overall health of warm-season grasses.
“Our conventional mowing recommendations are basically every seven days to remove a third of the grass blade,” said Unruh. “Part of the success with the autonomous or robotic mowers is the difference that daily mowing makes by clipping off a small amount of grass repeatedly, which helps keep the grass healthier and denser.”
These findings are significant because most robotic or autonomous mowers were originally designed for European lawns and cool-season grasses. These types of grasses require less intensive maintenance and thrive at the lower cut height of 2.4 inches. In contrast with the warm-season grasses, daily mowing using a robotic mower’s small, double-edged razor blades increased turf density and promoted healthier turf that was more resistant to pests and disease.
SATELLITE SCIENCE: FSU RESEARCH INCREASES ACCURACY OF HIGH-RESOLUTION OCEAN SURFACE MEASUREMENTS
Florida State University research published in June in Science Advances demonstrates a new framework for predicting the motion of kilometer-scale underwater waves that complicate satellite readings of the ocean.
By accurately modeling these subsurface waves, scientists can remove their interference from NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite, improving the satellite’s signal and allowing for observations of the Earth’s ocean circulation that are about 60 percent more accurate.
“SWOT is giving us the clearest view we have ever had of the ocean’s fine-scale circulation, the small eddies and currents that govern how much heat and carbon the ocean draws down from the atmosphere,” said study lead author Yadidya Badarvada, a researcher at FSU’s Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies who completed the work at FSU and while a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan. “But those measurements have been partially obscured by internal tides, which mimic the very features we are trying to observe. What this work shows is that the interference we assumed was too chaotic to fix is actually predictable, once you have a model that accurately tracks the evolving ocean state.”
