Red Hills Region

The Red Hills Region is a unique 300,000-acre (515.6 sq mi) area of the southeastearn United States overlapping parts of southwestern Georgia and north Florida. [ [http://bettonhills.org/_wsn/page3.html Betton Hills.org - Red Hills Region] ] [ [http://www.talltimbers.org/ttlc.htm Tall Timbers Research] ]

Location

The Red Hills extend from just east of the Aucilla River to the west of the Ochlockonee River, and from the farmlands near Coolidge, Georgia down to Tallahassee, Florida where the land drops at the Cody Scarp from heights of as much as 300 feet [ [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Tallahassee 1911 Encyclopedia] ] down to 50 to 80 feet above sea level to the Woodville Karst Plain.

History

The area was first settled by paleo-indians in and around the various lakes in the southern part of the Red Hills. Apalachee indians were found here in the 16th century. The Apalachee were almost annihilated through killing, disease, and slavery. It is now known through DNA that some Apalachee made it to southern Louisiana. In the 18th century the Seminoles made the Red Hills their home until the early 1800s and the Seminole Wars. Also during this time, more white settlers began cotton plantations which thrived until the Civil War. At one time, Leon County, Florida was the 5th largest producer of cotton between all counties in Georgia and Florida. After the Civil War, the Red Hills' plantations became farms and quail plantations for rich northerners.

Geography

Rolling hills and ravines covered by forests. The highest point in the Red Hills is 280 feet (85.3m) north of Tallahassee by 10 miles. The soil is red clay deposited during the last Ice Age from the Appalachian Mountains. Rivers running through the Red Hills Region are the Aucilla River, Ochlockonee River, and Telogia Creek. The St. Marks River is subterranean until it meets the surface in the Woodville Karst Plain.

Flora and fauna

Trees

The area is covered in a number of native species. There are a variety of oak including Southern live oak, Water oak, Laurel oak, White oak, Overcup Oak, Post oak, Black oak [ [http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FR004 University of Florida - Oak Trees] ] as well as other hardwood trees such as American sweetgum, a variety of Magnolia as well as Hickory, Flowering dogwood, Red maple, and Redbud. Conifers are also abundant with Shortleaf pine, Loblolly pine. The RHR is home to some of the last remnants of the great Longleaf pine forests remaining in the nation. [ [http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/georgia/press/press1300.html Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy Protects Critical Longleaf Pine Habitat in the Georgia Red Hills] ]

Animal life

The Red Hills Region supports Northern Bobwhite Quail, White-tailed Deer, Red Fox, Racoon, Eastern Grey Squirrel, Nine-banded Armadillo, Black Bear, migratory birds, the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker, the gopher tortoise, and many other animals and plants. [ [http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/4/443 Oxford Journals: Stand structures on quail plantations] ]

Features

The Red Hills Region serves as one of the highest recharge areas for the Floridan Aquifer — which is critical to the drinking water supply for residents of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The Red Hills Region also has the largest concentration of undeveloped plantation lands in the United States. The Red Hills has been identified for special conservation efforts and the Nature Conservancy has designated the Red Hills as one of America's "Last Great Places."

Namesake event

Each Spring, the equestrian community meets for the Red Hills Horse Trials, an Olympics qualifying event held at Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park and land owned by Tallahassee ecologist and horse enthusiast Colin Phipps (Ayavalla Plantation).

References

External links

* Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy