Earlier this year, partner organizations released 50 federally endangered reticulated flatwood salamanders on privately owned land in Pace.
It’s likely the first public/private partnership of its kind in Florida, said Ryan Sheets, spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
“As more than half of Florida’s land area is held in private ownership, the FWC recognizes the critical role that private lands play in providing sustainable wildlife populations and wildlife habitat,” said Sheets in an email statement.
The partnership has some international ties since the land is a commercial forest owned by a Denmark pension fund. It’s managed by Resource Management Service, LLC (RMS), based out of Birmingham, Alabama.
RMS CEO Alex Hinson said he hopes the partnership is a “model for good.” The project started in 2022.
“We wanted to know what we could do knowing there was suitable habitat,” said Hinson.
As part of the management of the 3,719 acres, the company harvests and replants long leaf pines within spaces of 100 acres or less. The land will continue to be a good habitat for the salamanders. Even with the cold snap, the salamanders are still there, said Hinson.
The larval salamanders were sourced from Escribano Point Wildlife Management Area in Milton, where the FWC is the lead manager. The area’s wetlands, and management from FWC, created a supportive habitat for the salamanders, said Sheets. Biologists collected eggs that were hatched and raised to use for the release.
Reticulated flatwoods salamanders can grow to a body length of 5.2 inches. They migrate to ponds or small puddles to breed from October to January during wet weather. The salamander’s range is in the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River.
“Creating additional subpopulations of reticulated flatwoods salamanders in the wild not only increases their overall numbers and reclaims areas of their original native range but also ensures this endangered species' survivability if events like disease or major storms affect some subpopulations,” said Sheets.
In addition to FWC, the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP), The Longleaf Alliance, Eglin Air Force Base, and Naval Air Station Whiting Field assisted with the release and will continue habitat management. More salamanders are expected to be released in early 2026.
