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In 1992 six goals were established to
guide the stewardship of
Spring
Island:
1. Safeguard the
environmental integrity of the Island.
2. Provide maximum plant and
wildlife diversity.
3. Ensure the needs of
wildlife species are met (including managing for overpopulation of species such
as deer when necessary).
4. Create an aesthetically
pleasing environment.
5. Provide for low impact
recreation (hiking, horseback riding, biking, bird watching, fishing, nature
photography, kayaking, camping).
6. Provide education and
research opportunities.
The Trust continues to manage much of the Island
the same way it was managed when it was a shooting plantation. The vision of Spring Island, however, is more than keeping habitats characteristic of a southern
shooting plantation. Preserving maximum plant
and wildlife diversity requires maintaining a wider variety of habitats than
typically is found on
hunting
plantations. For example, hardwood forest habitats
associated with wetlands are no longer bush-hogged to promote viable
quail hunting habitat but have been allowed to develop a subcanopy for nesting
songbirds.
Fields have been an important
part of the Spring Island landscape for centuries. Prior to chemical fertilizers, fields were
left fallow for several years before being replanted. These “unused” weedy
fields provided both cover and abundant food for species adapted to colonizing
areas where fires or hurricanes had destroyed large areas of forests. Bobwhite
quail, cotton rats, and several kinds of songbirds require this kind of habitat,
and were abundant during the era of un-mechanized agriculture. Fields are
still maintained at various successional stages
to provide this important wildlife habitat.
Man-made ponds provide a
variety of aquatic habitats on Spring Island.
Some of the first ponds were built for duck hunting. They were drained during
the summer and planted with grain crops. These ponds lacked
fish and therefore were excellent breeding sites for amphibians. Other, deeper
ponds were created to provide fishing. These ponds also provide habitat for
wildlife and long-legged waders. More recently, ponds were created
as part of the golf course.
The management philosophy also
addresses the aesthetics of the island to maintain a
rural sense of place. This includes how the roadsides are managed, how fields
are managed, and the maintenance of nature curtains that block the views of
homes.
Nature is dynamic and no two
years are the same. As a
result, land management is an active and adaptive process. Management plans must
continually be reviewed and modified to ensure that our goals are met.
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