complete agenda - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Unit Name: Big Shoals State Forest
Acres: 1,629.00 Managing Agency: FDACS-DOF
Current Management Plan
Approved:
357
3/21/2005
Narrative:
The Big Shoals State Forest (BSSF) comprises 1,629 acres of the 3,919 acre Big Shoals Public
Lands (BSPL). The BSPL is managed jointly by the Division of Forestry, State Parks, Suwannee
River Water Management District, and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. This
property was purchased from the Nature Conservancy by the State of Florida in 1986 through the
Conservation and Recreation Lands program to protect in perpetuity “the Big Shoals”, the largest
whitewater area in Florida. The acquisition also was intended to protect unique vistas and upland
areas, historic sites along the Suwannee River, as well as the river floodplain. The BSSF portion is
located on the northern side of the BSPL, and was designated as a State Forest in March of 1989.
In an effort to standardize the land management planning and reporting methods implemented by
all state land managers, the LMUAC has established eight common management goals and 32
quantitative measures that should be addressed by all management plans, where they apply to the
specific purposes and mission of each management unit. The Division of Forestry’s progress
towards achieving the common goals and applicable core objectives, as well as additional State
Forest-specific objectives for the BSSF, is described in quantitative terms on Tables 1- 8. The
management plan for BSSF was approved prior to July 2008, and does not contain specific
measures and timeframes for the goals, objectives and recommended actions. In the narrative
below, the last two years of applicable outstanding accomplishments, deficiencies and corrective
actions, and other important or clarifying information is provided for each of the LMUAC
management goals.
The Division of Forestry manages BSSF under the multiple-use concept balancing environmental,
recreational and resource use needs. While the BSPL is noted for its whitewater rapids associated
with the Big and Little Shoals on the Suwannee River at certain river levels, the BSSF portion has
multiple recreational opportunities as well. These include nature study, picnicking, hiking,
bicycling, horseback riding, fishing, and hunting. The hiking trail and horseback riding trail are
included in the Division of Forestry’s Trailwalker and Trailtrotter Programs. Bicyclists can utilize the
paved eight foot wide, four mile long Woodpecker Trail. A canoe launch is located on the northern
section of the river, and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has designated a portion of
the BSLP as a Type I Wildlife Management Area for hunting. In the last two years, wildlife food
plots were installed in previously disturbed areas for the first time on BSSF.
The natural community types within BSSF include mesic flatwoods, slope forest, upland hardwood
forest, and upland mixed forest, xeric hammock, basin swamp, baygall, bottomland forest, cypress
domes, floodplain forest, floodplain swamp, blackwater stream and seepage stream. The following
threatened or endangered species or species of special concern can be found on BSSF: wood
stork, bald eagle, gopher tortoise, American alligator, alligator snapping turtle, Suwannee cooter,
hooded pitcherplant, Chapman’s sedge, cardinal flower, butterwort, and rainlily. A perennial
stream, Four Mile Branch, flows through BSPL and into the Suwannee River. The Suwannee River,
an Outstanding Florida Water, flows along the entire southern boundary of BSPL.
The BSSF staff has a regular program of maintenance and/or replacement of damaged culverts and
low water crossings to limit impediment to natural wetland flowways and streams. In the last two
years, a low water crossing was rebuilt on Forest service road 1, and a low water crossing was
installed on Forest service road 8.