The Red Hills Community Cemetery (RHCC) ecosystems will be managed in accordance with management plans for two conservation easements: one governing areas required by the county to be set aside from development and a second entered into voluntarily by RHCC for the remainder of the property. Placing the entire cemetery under these easements will enable RHCC to seek certification from the Green Burial Council as a Conservation Burial Ground.
The regulatory easement will cover the ravine and slope forest areas shown on this 2025 aerial photo.
This area is home to some very large tulip poplar, swamp chestnut oak, and spruce pines as well as southern magnolias and hollies and the rare southern lady fern, but it has been disturbed by some invasive species. The draft management plan calls for protecting the existing ecosystem and restoring native plants.
The voluntary easement will apply to two distinct biological communities: a sandhill restoration area and an oak-pine woodland. This 1941 aerial photo shows that the former sandhill community, which would have supported long-leaf pine, turkey oak, and sand live oak, was cleared of trees and apparently tilled for agriculture. The area has revegetated naturally since the 1950s and now hosts nearly a dozen active gopher tortoise burrows.
The oak-pine community has not been disturbed since before 1937, the earliest year for which aerial photography is available. It is dominated by laurel oak and several blueberry shrubs with scatted live oak and slash pine.
The Conservation Committee has proposed working as time and resources allow to re-establish a functional, fire-dependent sandhill community that supports continued gopher tortoise occupation and burials. The oak-pine woodland would be managed for burials under a more open canopy that facilitates development of a robust ground cover of grasses and flowering plants.
Both conservation easement management plans must be approved by the county which will hold the legal easements and enforce their provisions. The RHCC is in a unique and important position to protect this beautiful land, and through the diligent work of many volunteers with specialized expertise, we are in a position to be excellent stewards of this land.