25 Years of Conserving Moody Forest

In 2001, The Nature Conservancy and Georgia DNR teamed up – with support from others – to acquire and conserve the brunt of Moody Forest, now a natural and wildlife management area. DNR’s Shan Cammack was there at the start.

By SHAN CAMMACK
Moody Forest recently celebrated 25 years as a wildlife management area and nature preserve in southeast Georgia. This property holds a lot of stories for a lot of folks.

There’s the Moody family, which cared for the land for generations. Uncle Jake Moody promised to “never cut a stick of wood unless it was absolutely necessary.”

There are the environmentalists who worked tirelessly to protect and preserve Moody’s unique ecosystems. There are the seasonal prescribed fire crews that helped with burns to restore and manage woodlands at Moody and across the region. These young people come to live on the property for a short time and then drift apart to many different walks of life. I like to think each carries a piece of Moody Forest with them.

And there are the visitors who travel to Moody to enjoy hunting, hiking, birding and environmental education in the longleaf pine uplands and the Altamaha River floodplain.

I have been a part of Moody Forest since The Nature Conservancy bought the first important 3,500-acre piece in 2001. I helped write the 50-year plan aimed at managing the property near Baxley. It was my first foray into preparing the comprehensive document that reviews the soils, land-use history and current vegetation, then lays out management objectives, best use and desired ecological conditions.

Because Moody Forest is home to one of the larger tracts of old-growth longleaf pine remaining in Georgia, fire management has been key. At the start, we were dealing with over 75 years of fire suppression that resulted in a significant accumulation of duff, or organic matter, at the base of the older pines. Although longleaf is a fire forest, we had to be very careful with those early prescribed burns to avoid damaging the trees. We gathered advice from many experts in the field, including the late great Leon Neel, who taught me patience in management saying, “You know, Shan, it takes 100 years to grow a 100-year-old longleaf pine tree.”

Jointly owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy and DNR, the WMA now covers over 4,600 acres and features a deep diversity of plants and animals. One of the flagship species and success stories is the federally threatened red-cockaded woodpecker. In 2001, Moody Forest had one solitary pair.

After considerable work to restore suitable habitat, including reintroducing fire, reducing the encroaching midstory hardwoods and encouraging the growth of native herbaceous groundcover, we were able to translocate some of the then-endangered woodpeckers from Fort Stewart.

While some of the first few birds took off and headed back to the base, some stayed and Moody now has 11 family groups. This year, those groups hatched 18 chicks, six of which were banded.

Moody Forest is an amazing place that protects a number of unique plants and animals. Beyond red-cockaded woodpeckers, that list includes gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes, Bachman’s sparrows, Henslow’s sparrows and northern bobwhite quail. It’s a great place to take a hike and see conservation in action.

Happy 25th anniversary, Moody Forest! You will always hold a special place in my heart.

FOR MORE: Watch “Longleaf for the Long Run,” which was filmed at Moody Forest.

Shan Cammack is fire management officer and a senior wildlife biologist at DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section.

Top: Prescribed fire has been key to managing Moody Forest’s longleaf pine habitats. (Alan Cressler)

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