J.R. Alford Greenway - Leon County

DRAFT 10/4/12
Additional language regarding public participation was
inserted on 2/18/13 and corrected program dates were inserted on 2/26/13
or used for hunting or cattle foraging. A 2003 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FFWCC) report indicates that the majority of the Greenway is Improved Pasture
and Mixed Pinewood Forest (Appendix C).
The FFWCC report also indicates dominant plant habitat types (and identified species) found at
the property as follows: basin swamp (swamp tupelo); bottomland forest (red maple,
sweetgum, water oak); floodplain forest (Catalina willow , red maple, river birch; titi); marsh
lake (cattail, pickerelweed, spatterdock and sugarcane plume grass); mesic hammock (live oak,
laurel oak sweetgum); upland mixed forest (black cherry , flowering dogwood, laurel oak, live
oak, loblolly pine, southern magnolia, sweetgum); and upland pine forest (loblolly pine;
mockernut hickory; post oak, shortleaf pine, and southern red oak).
A Forest Stewardship Management Plan (FSMP) was prepared for the Greenway by Stan
Rosenthal of the University of Florida/Leon County Cooperative Extension Service and Wayne
Harris of the Florida Wildlife Commission. The FSMP, which has been updated and is included in
this Plan as Appendix D, includes a description of existing vegetative resources, including
natural communities and exotics, and Best Management Practices and schedules for protecting
and enhancing these communities.
Several ecological assessments or analyses have been completed for the Greenway prior to and
following its acquisition by the State of Florida. These assessments were important in
inventorying the environmental features of the Greenway, which in itself was critical to
justifying its purchase by the State of Florida.
An ecological analysis of the JRAG prepared by Richard A. Hilsenbeck, Ph.D. was included in the
1998 land acquisition application filed on April 29, 1998 with the FDEP Office of Greenways and
Trails, Florida Recreational Trails Program for the J.R. Alford Greenway. This analysis, included
in this Plan as Appendix E, identified several additional listed species expected to occur on this
property, based on existing and potential habitat.
Another ecological assessment of the Greenway was conducted in 2001 for the Leon County
Division of Parks and Recreation by URS, a consulting firm in Tallahassee, Florida. Although not
a Natural Features Inventory as required by local code for site development, this assessment
includes a description and lists of physical characteristics, soils, vegetated habitats and aquatic
resources, listed species and other wildlife observations, and “unique natural features and
outstanding native landscapes.” The URS assessment is included in this Plan as Appendix F.
The URS assessment describes all vegetated habitats and aquatic resources on the Greenway.
These include upland hardwood forest, basin marsh/swamp, pasture/old fields, and lake marsh.
Of the total 881.1 acres, approximately 387 acres (44%) are comprised of forested areas, 59
acres (7%) are wetlands, 340 acres (39%) are pasture or old fields, and 91 acres (10%) are water
features, including Alford Arm.
As a part of the URS assessment, the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) database was
queried for element occurrence records. An updated query was run also in 2011, and is
included in this Plan as Appendix B. Although FNAI records did not include any listed plant and
animal species element occurrence records within the Greenway, there are several element
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