EPISODE · Apr 22, 2026 · 38 MIN
Season 3, Episode 16: Working Forests as Conservation Assets with Jimmy Bullock from RMS
from Connecting with Conservation · host jgassett
On this episode of Connecting with Conservation, co-hosts Jon Gassett and Jim Curcuruto sit down with Jimmy Bullock, Senior Vice President of Forest Sustainability at Resource Management Service (RMS). A self-described "recovering deer biologist," Jimmy earned his stripes in the private forestry sector with Anderson-Tully Company, Union Camp Corporation, and International Paper before joining RMS — a Timber Investment Management Organization (TIMO) that today manages roughly 2.2 million acres across eight southern states and Brazil on behalf of institutional investors. Jimmy also serves on the board of the Wildlife Management Institute and is active with Boone and Crockett Club and the National Conservation Leadership Institute. The conversation explores how working forests are quietly becoming one of the most important conservation tools in the American South. Jimmy walks through RMS's role in reintroducing the federally endangered reticulated flatwoods salamander to private land in Santa Rosa County, Florida, the largest conservation easement ever closed in South Carolina (nearly 50,000 acres in the Pee Dee River Basin), and the shift from short-rotation pulpwood management to longer sawtimber rotations that create the open-canopy, herbaceous-ground-cover conditions many declining species need. He also explains how longleaf pine restoration, long considered economically unviable, has been made workable through an innovative easement structure that accounts for opportunity cost and perpetual management. A major thread of the episode is the NAFO Wildlife Conservation Initiative and its Working Forests for Wildlife program, a collaborative model with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that covers 44 million acres of NAFO-member land nationwide. Jimmy details how programmatic agreements and species-specific annexes have turned regulatory liability into conservation opportunity for the northern long-eared bat, Red Hills Salamander, gopher tortoise, and alligator snapping turtle. His closing message — that trust between private landowners, state agencies, and federal partners is the foundation of modern conservation — is a theme any listener working in this space will recognize. For More Information, Visit us at: Wildlife Management Institute: https://wildlifemanagement.institute Outdoor Stewards of Conservation: https://stewardsofconservation.org Resource Management Service: https://www.resourcemgt.com #wildlifemanagementinstitute #forestry #conservationfunding #wildlifeconservation #workingforests #sustainableforestry #longleafpine #privatelandconservation #endangeredspecies #gophertortoise #nafo #outdoorstewards
What this episode covers
On this episode of Connecting with Conservation, co-hosts Jon Gassett and Jim Curcuruto sit down with Jimmy Bullock, Senior Vice President of Forest Sustainability at Resource Management Service (RMS). A self-described "recovering deer biologist," Jimmy earned his stripes in the private forestry sector with Anderson-Tully Company, Union Camp Corporation, and International Paper before joining RMS — a Timber Investment Management Organization (TIMO) that today manages roughly 2.2 million acres across eight southern states and Brazil on behalf of institutional investors. Jimmy also serves on the board of the Wildlife Management Institute and is active with Boone and Crockett Club and the National Conservation Leadership Institute. The conversation explores how working forests are quietly becoming one of the most important conservation tools in the American South. Jimmy walks through RMS's role in reintroducing the federally endangered reticulated flatwoods salamander to private land in Santa Rosa County, Florida, the largest conservation easement ever closed in South Carolina (nearly 50,000 acres in the Pee Dee River Basin), and the shift from short-rotation pulpwood management to longer sawtimber rotations that create the open-canopy, herbaceous-ground-cover conditions many declining species need. He also explains how longleaf pine restoration, long considered economically unviable, has been made workable through an innovative easement structure that accounts for opportunity cost and perpetual management. A major thread of the episode is the NAFO Wildlife Conservation Initiative and its Working Forests for Wildlife program, a collaborative model with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that covers 44 million acres of NAFO-member land nationwide. Jimmy details how programmatic agreements and species-specific annexes have turned regulatory liability into conservation opportunity for the northern long-eared bat, Red Hills Salamander, gopher tortoise, and alligator snapping turtle. His closing message — that trust between private landowners, state agencies, and federal partners is the foundation of modern conservation — is a theme any listener working in this space will recognize. For More Information, Visit us at: Wildlife Management Institute: https://wildlifemanagement.institute Outdoor Stewards of Conservation: https://stewardsofconservation.org Resource Management Service: https://www.resourcemgt.com #wildlifemanagementinstitute #forestry #conservationfunding #wildlifeconservation #workingforests #sustainableforestry #longleafpine #privatelandconservation #endangeredspecies #gophertortoise #nafo #outdoorstewards
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Season 3, Episode 16: Working Forests as Conservation Assets with Jimmy Bullock from RMS
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