Let’s Talk! Georgia Pines Institute

Recently, I had the pleasure of helping with a newly established non-profit in South Georgia called the Georgia Pines Institute at Triple M Acres. This area of land in Hoboken, Georgia supports a diversity of animal and plant life but has been polluted over the years. My family joined Executive Director Dr. Jeannie Martin and her family, as well as other local members of the community, to help clean up the land, so plants and animals can prosper. Though the work is not over, it is good to know we contributed. As part of my 2022 Let’s Talk! series, I interviewed Dr. Martin to learn more about her work and this exciting new conservation effort.

1. How did you get started in conservation work? 
   Conservation work has always just been a part of my life. My dad is an outdoorsman and we grew up outside, hiking, camping, playing, and learning that conservation was important. I remember when I was young doing clean ups, and plantings and projects with Girl Scouts, that turned into school projects and other activities, and then I ended up majoring in a conservation focus in college and it continued from there. I did several internships before leading sea turtle nesting projects for a few season before coming to the Georgia and the getting involved here.
2. Can you tell us a little bit about Triple M Acres? 
   When my son was born, my parents wanted a small piece of land that they could bring their camper to and spend time visiting us. While looking, we stumbled on the property and it ended up being more than we thought we wanted but something we couldn’t refuse. Once we had it, we had to come up with a name and the Triple M was born. Since 2018, we have been fortunate to get two extra pieces next to the original piece and it’s now just under 30 acres. We placed the bulk of it in conservation easement immediately and are working to build out management plans around it. We have learned that it contains most of the habitat types found in the coastal plain – bog, long leaf pine, low lying wetlands – and in tact transition zones in between. It’s a great piece of land and a wonderful way to showcase the GA habitats.
3. What is the reason or purpose for establishing your Georgia Pines Institute non-profit? 
   We want to be able to share the land with those in the area in a meaningful and sustainable way. I’ve worked in conservation and with non-profits my entire life and it seemed to be a natural next step. This will give us the ability to generate funding for active land management, building education programs, and hopefully one day an on site facility. This will also serve as long term protection for the land itself.
4. Where did the name come from?  
   The original property we called the Triple M because of our family names, Miller, Martin, and McLaughlin. We wanted to include our immediate family, and our spouses since we were all involved in the land and what we hoped it would become. As we started to realize we wanted the mission to be bigger than ourselves and started exploring creating a non-profit, we started looking at the land and what we wanted to do in order to encompass both those things. We wanted to create an area where people could learn about the habitat and species of the area that also focused on habitat conservation and restoration. Being able to experience a habitat in its natural state is such an important thing when building a relationship with wildlife. The dominant historical habitat type of the area, and the main habitat we will be working to restore and maintain is long-leaf pine. With those things in mind we settled on the Georgia Pines Institute for our name. We have incorporated the MMM into our logo since that component is important and the property itself is what serves as the home for the non-profit’s work.
5. How can other people establish their own non-profit? 
   It’s a lot of work, and honestly, I’m still learning about the process myself since each state has different guidelines. There are great resources out there like the National Council of Nonprofits that can guide someone.
6. What are specific species that are on the area of land that you are trying to conserve? 
   We obviously want to protect all the native species we find, and are still cataloging species on the land, and likely will be for some time. We know that we have historically had gopher tortoises and indigo snakes in the past, so those species, the species that live in their burrows, and the long leaf pine that supports them are a large focus. We are also fortunate to have bog species so we are looking at those plants as well and long term hoping to find or have pitcher plants as well. The endemic hairy rattleweed is a highly endangered species that grows exclusively in that part of the state. While we haven’t found any yet, we have found plants that live alongside them. We are hoping to one day consider having a colony there, but that is definitely a long term larger scope project than where we are now.
7. What are your ambitions for the non-profit? What do you think it will grow to become? 
   We want to take what is there and protect and share it in a meaningful way. Our first ambitions are to focus on habitat restoration and management to undo the damage that was left before we got it. There is a significant amount of trash left on the land and that’s our first goal. Once we have that taken care of, we want to focus on education and positive in situ nature based experiences for the local community that otherwise wouldn’t get them. Long term, it’d be great to work nationally and globally as well to share with the world what we have. I have no idea what it will grow to become. It would be awesome if we were able to have regular visitors and programming and an operational site, but if we end up focusing more on habitat preservation than public use that’s ok too. 
8. What do you hope people will learn?  
   There are a few lessons I think that we would like people to learn. First, it’s that many many little steps that may seem insignificant can create something huge. Looking at the volume of trash on the land right now, it’s easy to think we will never get it cleaned up. But when we think about how much we have already done it’s less overwhelming. Second, I want to be able to show people that there are great things, that globally matter, in their own backyard. The GA coast has incredible biodiversity and you don’t have to go the entire way around the world to find significant and important species. I also want people to gain a relationship with the natural world. The data is there that having a positive relationship with nature improves so many aspects of your life. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, and yet so few get that experience. In order for people to get invested, they need the experience.

Special thank you to Dr. Martin for answering all of my questions, and thank you for reading!