Audubon of Florida Board Member Reid Hughes had the privilege to deliver this year's Audubon Sustainable Forestry Award. For the first time in the award's history, it will be given to an agency instead of a single person. This year the award goes to the Pinellas County Utilities Department for their management of the Cross Bar/Al Bar Ranches.

Pinellas County Utilities Department utilizes a land management philosophy that allows for multiple-uses: wood production, cattle grazing, wildlife protection and education, as well as being the location of wellfields that supply water to Pinellas and its neighbors.

Audubon encourages land managers across the state to follow this philosophy and embrace the goals of multiple-use management. Congratulations to the Pinellas County Utilities Department.