across Northwest Florida Giving back to our communities Preserving - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• Protecting and restoring forests

across Northwest Florida

• Giving back to our communities
• Preserving natural beauty
• Restoring critical habitats

Gulf Power Company has a long history of working to provide reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible electricity to our customers. Through our dedication to the communities we serve and our commitment to the environment, Gulf Power has invested in what matters to the future of Northwest Florida.

http://www.gulfpower.com/community/stewardship/home.cshtml

7,550 sq mi

territory

3

generating facilities

100

substations

1,600 mi

transmission lines

19,000

acres ROWs

> 10,000

acres forest

> 3,900

acres recreation leases

> 1,400 employees 71

towns

8

counties

Apalachicola Bluffs Perdido River Preserve Longleaf Restoration Customers & Community

• Provided $385,000 to accelerate reforestation and help restore groundcover
• n the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve
• Employee volunteers have planted longleaf seedlings and wiregrass, and

carved firebreaks and a hiking trail at Perdido River Preserve

• Restoring over 600 acres of longleaf habitat on Company property
• Gulf Power Transformers, a 501(c)3, donates money

and volunteer hours to aid many charitable and community projects throughout Northwest Florida

GCPEP Overview

Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP)

• Voluntary partnership formed in 1996 due to dramatic decline

in longleaf pine habitat

• Partnership now consists of 12 public and private landowners,

spanning connected landscape of 1.05 million acres Partners include:

• Dept. of Defense National Park Service

US Forest Service FL Dept. of Env. Protection FL Forest Service NW FL Water Mgmt. Dist. FL FWCC The Nature Conservancy Longleaf Alliance Nokuse Plantation Gulf Power Westervelt Ecological Svcs.

Accomplishments

• Acreage enrolled in partnership increased

from 840,000 to 1.05 M acres

− Included protection of key wildlife corridors, buffers and inholdings

• Actions increased critical to landscape-level

conservation and at-risk-species recovery

− Prescribed burning, invasive species control and longleaf pine restoration

• Acres burned rose from 70,000 to

>185,000 acres/year

− Due to limited resources, partners created Ecosystem Support Team that works across landscape

EST Fire History

643 Total Burns on 409,172 Acres

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) Success

• 1996: GCPEP partners established RCW

recovery as a priority

• 1998: 312 active clusters

− Eglin (280), Blackwater (18), Conecuh (14)

• 2015 (Today): 570 potential breeding

groups - RCW population has increased

• n each of the partners’ lands

− Eglin (432), Blackwater (98), Conecuh (40)

Eric Blackmore

USFS USFS

Recovery focus includes habitat improvement through prescribed fire, cavity inserts/management, population augmentation with translocations