Stewardship

The majority of acreage The St. Joe Company owns is located in Northwest Florida, and is managed in the company's forestry operations and conservation projects. The St. Joe Company has placed more than 170,000 acres - or more than 250 square miles - into permanent conservation since 1997. Many of Northwest Florida's state parks, state forests and wildlife refuges were created in part with St. Joe land.

Sustainable forest management practices, the guiding principles of St. Joe Timberland Company, include complying with laws and regulations, developing a long-term sustainable timber harvest plan, and understanding the economic and social impacts on the surrounding region. We take a holistic approach to managing our resources – timber, land, water, soil and wildlife – with the goal of sustainability. St. Joe is leading by example and protecting the best of Florida by working closely with environmental agencies, community leaders and leading environmental and conservation organizations. Our sustainable forest management practices take many forms, including eradication of invasive plant species, restoring wetlands, thinning forests, replanting trees and conducting prescribed burns. St. Joe carries out prescribed burns on thousands of acres annually, which helps restore natural ecosystems, improves wildlife habitats and reduces wildlife hazards.

Land Donations

Trails

Conservation

Thousands of acres of St. Joe land have been donated for airport, schools, hospitals, roads, boat ramp, parks, and other civic purposes.

The Bay Walton Sector Plan will create a regionally significant trail network of at least 100 miles that will connect to existing networks of trails.

The Bay Walton Sector Plan includes extensive conservation and water quality protection framework (almost 50%).

Mitigation Banking

A Mitigation Bank is a site or suite of sites, where resources are restored, established, enhanced and preserved for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation for impacts authorized by permits.

The St. Joe Company owns and operates two mitigation banks in Northwest Florida -- Breakfast Point and Devil's Swamp -- located in Bay and Walton Counties. JOE has mitigation credits to meet your wetland mitigation needs.

Timber Management

St. Joe Timberland's expertise is deep rooted in practical, as well as innovative methods. Our forestry operations have produced over 325,000 tons of trees for lumber and pulp on an annual and sustainable basis.

We rigorously examine the characteristics of trees in a forest and the interactions of those trees with each other and with the forest ecosystem as a whole in order to maximize the timber output. Long-term growth and yield models along with soil productivity information are used to calculate timber growth and project yields to monitor that annual harvesting does not exceed more than the annual growth. We aggressively regenerate harvested acres in order to maximize return on investment. To further improve timber volume and harvest efficiency, we use top-of-the-line information technology systems.

Southern Pine, our main product, is a low-cost product that fits well into cost-conscience supply chains. We currently produce both saw timber (lumber used in construction) and pulp (timber used to make pulp for products like linerboard).

Land Management

Through our land management and restoration efforts, St. Joe is protecting ecologically sensitive areas and preserving habitat for threatened and endangered species. St. Joe's systematic program of prescribed burns helps reduce the threat of wildfire and creates a healthier forest, producing forage that is more nutrient rich and palatable to wildlife.

St. Joe has pioneered large-scale planning and permitting to protect Northwest Florida watersheds by collaborating with a range of community leaders to create a watershed protection plan that avoids piecemeal environmental impacts on more than 48,000 acres of our land that stretches from St. Andrews Bay to Choctawhatchee Bay. Known as the Regional General Permit and Ecosystem Management Agreement, the agreement directs development to appropriate areas while creating a wildlife corridor that connects the two bays. We have worked successfully with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to inventory sites that provide the optimum habitat for the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, Flatwoods Salamander, Gopher tortoise and other threatened and endangered species and habitat types.

Chelone Gopher Tortoise Recipient site

Chelone is now accepting tortoises for relocation! Chelone is a Long-Term Protected Gopher Tortoise Recipient Site permitted by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, located near the Bay/Walton County Line in the Florida Panhandle. Discounts available for large reservations.