Okay, good afternoon committee members and other parties of interest. This oral presentation for RFP 26-00069, Lower Green Swamp Cattle Grazing Lease, is being held in part by means of communications media technology. Active participation will be for committee members and presenting firms only. A recording of the meeting will be made available to the public and all other interested parties. Please be advised that the Cone of Silence is still in effect. All meetings and correspondence must include me. My name is Ethan Kersey and I'm the buyer for this project. Again, for the record, this meeting is being recorded and will be posted online at a future date. At this time, I will ask each committee member to reintroduce themselves for the record, beginning with the committee chair. Forrest Arpaville, Director, Conservation, Environmental Lands Management Department, Hillsborough County. Allie Williams, UF IFIS Extension, Hillsborough County Small Farms Agent. Ken Bradshaw, Hillsborough County Environmental Lands Management. Steve Raymond, Hillsborough County Environmental Lands Management. Ross Dickerson, Division Manager, Environmental Lands Management. And Aaron Cardenas, Precurement Engagement Coordinator here with Forrest Arpaville Services, Hillsborough County. Thank you guys. Presenters, if you would please introduce yourself for the record the first time you speak today as well. Our presenters will have a total of 45 minutes, 15 minutes for their presentation, and 30 minutes for Q&A. The committee is advised that they may ask clarifying questions regarding any information provided in the firm's written proposal or that the firm brings up during today's oral presentation and interview. I will be timing your presentation and we'll signal to you another two minutes remaining. Immediately following the presentation, we'll move on to the Q&A portion. I will start your time once you begin speaking. And with that, Audubon, I will hand it over to you. All right. Thank you all very much. Dennis Carlton, Jr. with Audubon Ranch. Good afternoon, Evaluation Committee. I would like to thank each of you for this opportunity to speak today and focus back in on Audubon Ranch qualifications, our approach, and our ability to furnish the required services to operate the Lower Green Swamp. Again, I'm Dennis Carlton, Jr. I'm a partner in Audubon Ranch. My father, Dennis Carlton, Sr., is an owner as well. Patrick Thomas, Audubon Ranch Ranch Manager, and RJ O'Brien, who is our pesticide and herbicide contractor that is here today to answer any questions in regards to wheat management, Audubon Ranch, technical approach regarding invasive species, and the best management practices that we use. The qualifications of Audubon Ranch are proven, as Dennis Sr. has been in the cattle business since 1972. Audubon Ranch has had the privilege of operating a cow-calf operation on the Lower Green Swamp property for 32 years now and has shown that strong ranch and property management has been and will continue to be a top priority. The Lower Green Swamp property has been a showcase to the community and all those who visit, as it is often asked to be shown to many agricultural organizations and those that hold office here locally and nationally, many of which are Hillsborough County Commissioners and Congressmen. The latest of these is Congress Lady Laurel Lee, who visited the ranch this past fall, and County Commissioner Josh Wastel, who plans to attend in the coming weeks. This is a testament to what a public-private relationship should look like. Audubon takes a substantial amount of pride in the visual appearance of the property to show and display how Audubon Ranch truly cares and wants the Environmental Land Acquisition Protection Program and their team to be proud of one of the largest protective properties in Hillsborough County. Audubon Ranch has demonstrated this by spending over $505,000 in chemical and application in the last five years to maintain the pastures throughout the Lower Green Swamp Preserve. The manager of Audubon Ranch holds a bachelor degree in agriculture operations management from the University of Florida and has helped manage the property for almost 15 years now. Audubon also finds it noteworthy that the owners of Audubon Ranch have been recipients of many awards stretching from the Commissioner of Agriculture's Office, FDACS, Hillsborough County, and the Plant City Chamber of Commerce. This speaks to the involvement inside the community, which further demonstrates the qualifications that Audubon Ranch and its owners bring to this land. Secondly, Audubon's approach to the projects is very important. We think it is significant to discuss the experience that the ranch will bring and the technical approach to the Lower Green Swamp Preserve. The owners own and operate cattle in six central Florida counties totaling 36,000 acres. We feel this is very noteworthy as this confirms the actual experience, the actual experience needed to operate a property such as the Lower Green Swamp Preserve. If the Evaluation Committee would like to visit any of these properties to have 100% confirmation, which we believe is important in this lengthy process, we would welcome that. This would allow for validity and further demonstrate the passion and importance of land management and our overall operating approach is to our Audubon Ranch team. I hope the Evaluation Committee each got to speak to some of the references that were listed on the RFP. These range from the Mosaic Company's leadership, Florida Power of Light, and the Baldwin family. This list again further demonstrates and confirms, and I'll repeat, confirms how the owners operate, and I would ask if you haven't spoken to any of these folks to please, please do. Lastly, Audubon's ability to furnish and provide the required services is probably the most important. We have had the opportunity to wear the landlord hat and the tenant hat down through the years on different properties, and one of the most important things we find is that whoever is part of a transaction, that number one is trustworthy, and number two has the financial means needed to perform. Audubon Ranch will be happy to provide any financial documentation from the company and from its owners to demonstrate the capacity to operate, which we believe is pivotal to this process. Audubon has consistently displayed its ability to perform all of its needed, all of its obligations, and has exhibited its dedication to overall ranch management by spending what is needed to have a profitable business along the pouring back into the land that God has allowed us to be stewards of. Everything I've stated is what we believe separates our firm and why we should be chosen for this opportunity. Thank you again for allowing our team to revisit our qualifications, our approach to the project, and the ability to deliver on the services required to maintain the Lower Green Swamp property at a very, very high level. In conclusion, we would like to note that Audubon Ranch trusts that our legal counsel addressed all the protesters' questions and did so with precision. The process that the county followed to evaluate the RFP was compliant with Florida law. We want to thank the evaluation committee for entrusting us down through the years and would enjoy working beside the ELAP team moving forward. So thank you again for this opportunity to speak to you all today. Thank you very much. We'll go ahead and move directly into Q&A, so I will open it up to the committee to ask any questions you guys. Okay, so my question is pretty broad, but what key factors guide your approach to land stewardship and conservation when making your grazing management or forage management decisions? I can reread that one more time. So what key factors guide your approach to land stewardship and conservation when making your grazing management or forage management decisions? Yeah, I'll jump in and then the panel here can jump in. Honestly, following the BMTs is very pivotal. The best management practices, we try to follow those to the T. If we have any questions, we always seek guidance from IFAS when it regards to anything from weed management, right on down the line, water quality. So we try to do a good job from an environmental standpoint and stewardship by following the science that is, you know, laid out there that have been well documented to places like IFAS and, you know, of course, the BMV cattle grazing guidelines as well. Let me interject a little something into that. Dennis Carlton Sr. When we look at the factor, you know, when we talk about herbicides and spraying and those kinds of things, it's important to know when, the time of year, the applications. And when you really look at these things the year round, and there are certain products that you have to use at certain times. So that kind of comes into the BNPs. The BNPs may not exactly tell you what, but they kind of tell you when. And then we have other expertise, and we haven't been doing this a long time. So we kind of have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work. And the other thing I'd share with you, you know, we treat these properties, the lease properties just like we do our own. And I think that's the reason we've been successful over the years. And with that, I'll just answer any other questions you might have. Thank you. Any questions? Not, not yet anyway. Okay. Steve, I do have no questions. Ross, any questions? So gentlemen, going back through the listed projects that you have for Stolen Saddle Ranch, who owns the cattle on that property? Carlton and Carlton Ranch, which is the same ownership as Audubon Ranch with different percentages, but it's the same family owned. Okay. So for all of the, for all of the projects that you've listed here, do you own the cattle on those pro, on those properties? Yes. We own all the cattle and there's nothing owed on any of them. So you're not just running the ranch for somebody else. It's, it's yeah. And then another question I had from the proposal, it mentions that the staff is trained in invasive plant identification and proper herbicide mixing rates. Or is the staff, do they hold a license in spraying herbicide as well? No. Yeah. If RJ is here, he can answer any questions into that if y'all have. The staff knows what, you know, what the weeds are. And everybody's been doing this for years, you know, whether it be a dog similar, whether it be Brazilian pepper, or whether it be a tropical silver apple or a cogey grass, and know what needs to be preyed on. But RJ is, is who we have to do it. Now, we do some spots spraying like the maconium grass, the glyphos, and that's done in-house. But most of the spraying goes on in there because the agent's requirement is subbed out to target. And Mr. O'Brien, is there, do you ever have to use a restricted use chemical on the property for certain instances? Or is it always just general chemicals? Ron O'Brien here, RJ. So there's very, there's only one instance where we ever use a restricted product. And that is during army worm season, where we use Dimlin, which it's, it is a restricted use, but we very minimally use that. And I don't think we used it at all last year. Ron O'Brien here. Okay. That's all I have. Ron O' You have any mail? Ron O' Good. Ron O' Nothing on my end, gentlemen. I'm good. Anybody else? Ron O' You're going to have something? I'm good. Ron O' Okay. Sounds like they're out of questions already. I appreciate it, guys. We'll go ahead and wrap up. As you know, we are convening again today at four o'clock for discussion. So please feel free to watch that and then continue to monitor Yuna for any future updates. Ron O' Thank you, Ethan. Thank you, panel. And we appreciate the opportunity. Ron O' Thank you, guys.