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Common Ground Ecology

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United States
Tampa, FL
Common Ground Ecology

We help agencies and landowners to develop workable, science-based strategies to balance the needs of wildlife and natural lands with practical land uses.

08/10/2026

🌿 Featured this week in our Meet the Team Monday series is Cara Franceschini, Senior Ecologist & Gopher Tortoise Lead at Common Ground Ecology! 🐢

Cara recently joined the Common Ground Ecology team, and her passion for Florida’s wildlife is impossible to miss. Her close friends have even nicknamed her the “Queen of Stats and Snakes!”

Originally from New Jersey, Cara earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University. Although she grew up loving the outdoors, college is where her passion for conservation truly took root. Today, she’s proud to call Central Florida home and is dedicated to conserving its unique ecosystems, native plants, and protected wildlife.

Before joining Common Ground Ecology, Cara served as a Gopher Tortoise Resource Biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), where she worked with Authorized Agents, consultants, landowners, and recipient site managers across the state. She now leads our gopher tortoise program and is helping develop and teach our upcoming Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent Certification Courses, with a focus on giving students the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to succeed in the field. She has always had a special place in her heart for teaching others about wildlife and inspiring the next generation of conservation professionals.

When she’s not working, you’ll probably find her exploring Florida’s natural areas, visiting Disney, shelling at the beach, or traveling to spend time with family and friends.

We’re excited to have Cara on the Common Ground Ecology team and can’t wait for others to learn from her passion, expertise, and dedication to Florida’s natural resources. Welcome to the team, Cara! 🌿🐢

07/27/2026

Up next on our Meet the Team Monday Series: Fabiola “Fabby” Baeza-Tarin, Director of Avian Ecology.

Fabby is a dedicated conservation ecologist whose hard work, heart, and passion for protecting rare and imperiled species truly can’t be matched. Fabby specializes in the conservation of avian species that need it most, bringing focus, perseverance, and deep care to every project she takes on (including revamping our social media pages!).

You may recognize Fabby from WildPath and NatGeo’s award-winning short film, “The Little Brown Bird,” which follows the dedicated partners working across Central Florida to recover the critically endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow. But Fabby’s story started long before Florida—on her family’s cattle ranch in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico, where her love for land, wildlife, and working landscapes first took root. That early spark led her to Sul Ross State University, where she earned both her B.S. and M.S. while studying declining grassland birds. From there, her path naturally brought her to Archbold Biological Station’s Avian Ecology Program, where she helped protect the Florida grasshopper sparrow on a working cattle ranch in Central Florida.

Since joining the Common Ground team, she continues to be an advocate for working lands for wildlife. She loves working with all things airborne, such as birds, bats, and drones! When not in the field, she spends her time playing kickball, making crafts, or discovering new food. She also never turns down an opportunity for a good nap!

We’re so lucky to have her on the team and inspired by the heart, grit, and passion she brings to conservation every day. Say “Hi” and “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to Fabby!

07/23/2026

Common Ground Ecology is at the 40th Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School! 🐢🦇🐍

We’re excited to be part of the conversation on Florida-specific environmental policies, permitting updates, and leading conservation strategies.

Spot Catie in the crowd? Be sure to say hi and connect! 👋

07/21/2026

Last week our staff culminated another season of eastern black rail surveys across five properties in central Florida!

The eastern black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) is one of North America’s most secretive marsh birds and is federally listed as threatened. They are sparrow-sized, slate-gray, with a reddish-chestnut nape and white-speckled back; they hide in dense high-marsh vegetation and shallow wetlands—salt marshes, wet prairies, and impoundments in areas like the St. Johns River basin and Big Bend coastline. They are extremely secretive and are dearly nicknamed the “feathered mouse” for how rarely it flies or shows itself; it’s usually detected only by its sharp kic-kic-kerr call at night. Sea level rise, coastal development, and altered hydrology threaten its narrow habitat, making habitat management and acoustic monitoring vital to Florida’s remaining breeding populations.

Beyond establishing occupancy data for regulatory and permitting purposes, these surveys help land managers fine-tune sensitive practices, like timing prescribed burns outside nesting season and managing water levels in impoundments to protect nests from flooding.

Swipe through to see some of the photos our team captured in the field!

📸: Catie Welch & Fabby Baeza-Tarin

07/13/2026

Next up on our Meet the Team Series we are thrilled to feature Catie Welch, Director and Senior Ecologist at Common Ground Ecology!

Catie brings an incredible depth of expertise in wildlife sciences, ecological surveys, and land-use planning to our team. From researching urban white ibis spatial patterns to managing the natural resource program at the 58,000-acre Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park.
Her career is rooted in protecting the landscapes and species that make Florida so special. When she’s not analyzing GIS data, in the field, or volunteering in the community, she’s helping landowners and agencies find sustainable, science-based paths forward for conservation.

Catie received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Florida Atlantic University, and a Master’s degree in Forest Resources with a focus on Wildlife Sciences from the University of Georgia 🌾🦅✨

Outside of her day-to-day bird work, Catie’s hobbies include visiting local craft breweries, paddle boarding, watercolor painting, going to concerts, watching footballs, and anything to do with fast cars!

07/04/2026

Happy Independence Day weekend, everyone! As we come together with family, friends, and neighbors to celebrate the Fourth of July, let’s keep our communities safe and peaceful. If you are planning your festivities, please consider leaving the fireworks to the professionals. Beyond the obvious fire hazards and risk of injury, the sudden, loud explosions of backyard fireworks cause severe distress to neighborhood pets, military veterans experiencing PTSD, and local wildlife. Birds can flee their nests in a panic, and small animals are often displaced or injured by the chaos. Choosing public, professional displays over neighborhood fireworks is a simple, impactful way to celebrate our freedom while showing respect and care for the people, pets, and wild spaces around us. Have a wonderful, safe, and meaningful holiday! 🇺🇸

📸: Lance Arvidson

06/29/2026

Happy Monday! We are starting a new ‘Meet the Team Monday’ series, and what’s better than kicking it off by showcasing the President/CEO of this firm?

Meet Lance Arvidson! 🐢🦉🌲🦇  When he’s not busy launching terrible Dad jokes and joyfully over-building spreadsheets and flowcharts, Lance’s focus is on conservation of endangered species and their habitats.  Though he’s the least online dude we know, he still manages to bring folks together to build habitat-based conservation solutions. His adaptive, science-based conservation strategies balance land-use demands with the protection of natural landscapes, supporting both private landowners and government agencies. He has helped protect hundreds of thousands of acres of private land across Florida while discovering several new populations of imperiled species, such as a previously unknown population of the critically endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow.

Additionally, as an FWC-certified Gopher Tortoise Authorized Agent, he has led the official Gopher Tortoise Authorized Agent training course for more than 15 years, certifying hundreds of agents in essential wildlife management and survey methodologies.  Originally from Kansas, his worldly experience will sneak up on you. He’s had long stints doing research in Costa Rica, volunteering for the Peace Corps in the South Pacific, and working on boats in the Virgin Islands. Lance has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.

06/19/2026

This clump of grass may not look like much…but it hides the nest of the critically endangered Florida grashopper sparrow!

Our dedicated field staff spend hours tracking subtle behavioral cues just to locate these hidden nests. This meticulous work is a crucial step in deploying conservation tools to improve their reproductive success.

This work could not be done without the help of our collaborators: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , FL Environmental Protection , MyFWC Florida Fish & Wildlife , Archbold Biological Station .

05/21/2026

Common Ground Ecology has been an essential partner in the recovery efforts of the critically endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow, playing a pivotal role in expanding known habitats through targeted conservation strategies; actively surveying private properties and providing landowners with critical land management assistance. In the last 5 years, their dedicated fieldwork has culminated in the groundbreaking discovery of two new populations of the sparrow, one of which is now placed under perpetual conservation, offering a crucial lifeline and renewed hope for the long-term survival of North America’s most endangered songbird.

📸: Catie Welch

05/14/2026

Common Ground Ecology leverages advanced UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) technology to revolutionize the way listed species surveys are conducted, offering a non-invasive and highly efficient alternative to traditional ground-based methods. By deploying drones equipped with high-resolution imagery, the team can monitor sensitive habitats and detect cryptic species across vast or inaccessible terrains without disturbing the local ecosystem.

Check out these photos our team took while conducting Florida sandhill crane surveys!

Address

Tampa, FL
33606

Opening Hours

Monday	7am - 5pm
Tuesday	7am - 5pm
Wednesday	7am - 5pm
Thursday	7am - 5pm
Friday	7am - 5pm

Telephone

+18134697485

Website

http://www.commongroundecology.com/

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