Editor’s Note: See the full story in the Sept./October South Carolina Wildlife.
Back home, I picked beggar lice off my jeans for days.
The seeds had hitchhiked from Georgia to South Carolina, carrying a lesson in wildlife management.
Quail love ’em. So do the people who manage lands for quail.
It was a mild winter afternoon when Chuck Leavell and I walked among the pines of Charlane Plantation, a hunting preserve and model of integrated forest management.
In 1999, Chuck and Rose Lane earned National Tree Farmers of the Year for their management of Charlane Plantation.
As we walked through tall Georgia pines a déjà vu feeling took hold. I recalled an afternoon at Little Hobcaw Barony in Nesmith, South Carolina, where presidential advisor Bernard Baruch established a quail hunting property in the early 1900s. The 2 places look similar.
Charlane Plantation Manager Hal Hamilton said they prescribe burn about every 36 months and thin the pines so natural grasses can move in. “We plant 4-grain food plots, too,” said Hal.
As Chuck watched the dogs work, I imagined him on stage with the Allman Brothers Band and working with Jagger and the Rolling Stones.
Rock’s top keyboardist sees how nature works. He’s helping other to better understand nature, too.
Chuck co-founded the Mother Nature Network www.mnn.com— the world’s most visited online network for news, education, and information about the environment and responsible living.
“The impetus was my partner, Joel Babbit. Joel, a public relations and advertising genius, had run a couple of companies, and at that time, 2008, he was president of Grey Communications of Atlanta.
“He called me one day. ‘Listen, I represent a lot of big companies. They realize we’re at a critical time and they’re trying to recycle and do things to improve their footprint. I’ve been scouring the Internet and can’t find a place I’m comfortable spending their budgets. What can you tell me?’ ”
“Joel, you’re right,” said Chuck, “There’s no WebMD for the environment.”
They decided to change that.
“Joel hired some talented ecojournalists. We put the offices together and launched on a wing and a prayer.”
Today MNN is the most visited independent environmental website, generating some 5 to 6 million sessions per month from over 200 countries.
“It only took 4.5 billion years (Earth’s age) to build that website,” Chuck said.
This 2-part column would not be complete without music.
What’s Chuck’s favorite Stones song to play with the band?
“Oh, I enjoy doing ‘Honky Tonk Women.’ ”
Chuck said something we all know is true: “Whatever your calling, if you are passionate about it, it’s not work.”
Managing Charlane for hunting and timber has been a labor of love for him and Rose Lane. “We’ve been together 46 years and have a lot of fun together,” said Chuck. “She works backstage with The Stones now. We’re together just about every day.”
Chuck said something sticks with me. Unlike those beggar lice, I’ll hang onto it.
“I believe there’s a deep spiritual nourishment in living somewhere where every tree is taller than every building, rather than the other way around.”
Amen to that, and amen to the great example Charlane Plantation sets for all who love the land, hunting, and a healthy world.