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BUILDING The Future Longleaf Forest
VOLUME VII - ISSUE 3 FALL 2014 Fall-Longleaf-Leader_Layout 1 9/22/14 5:36 PM Page 3
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tAble of Contents
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President’s Message...... 2 h i s t o r y ...... 25 Calendar ...... 3 While You’re in the Grass Stage ...... 26 Letters from the Inbox ...... 5 Arts & literAture ...... 27 Green Side Up ...... 6 Longleaf Destinations ...... 30 Building The Future Longleaf Forest ...... 8 Understory Plant Spotlight...... 13 P e o P l e ...... 32 Landowner Profile...... 14 suPPort the AlliAnCe ...... 34 regionAl uPdAtes ...... 19 Heartpine ...... 36
P u b l i s h e r The Longleaf Alliance, e d i t o r Carol Denhof, d e s i g n Bellhouse Publishing Advertising Tom Livers 334.427.1029 – [email protected] C o v e r Planted longleaf pine in North Carolina. Photo by Robert Abernethy.
The Longleaf Leader (USPS#) is an official publication of The Longleaf Alliance, 12130 Dixon Center Road, Andalusia, Alabama 36420 and is published 4 times a year. The Longleaf Alliance reserves the exclusive right to accept or reject advertising or editorial material submitted for publication. Advertising rates quoted upon request.Postmaster: Send address changes to Longleaf Alliance, Address12130 Dixon Center Road, Andalusia, Alabama 36420. Periodicals Postage Paid at Montgomery, Alabama.
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BY ROBERT ABERNETHY, THE LONGLEAF ALLIANCE
P r e s i d e n t ’s m e s s A g e
{building the future longleaf forest}
The cold fronts have started to push down into Longleaf This issue of The Longleaf Leader will focus on “Building Country and a few trees are beginning to change color in the the Future Longleaf Forest. Our writers will provide you with piedmont and mountain longleaf regions. This is a busy time information on establishing your new forest and managing the of the year in the longleaf woods. Herbicide applications need forest that is currently on your land. We will discuss to be completed and burn plans must be written before partnerships and how local implementation teams all across the restoration sites can be prescribe burned and the sites planted. range are working with the NRCS, USFWS, USFS, and DOD Then there is deer season and duck season and quail season to to attract programs and sponsors to help the private landowner fit into the work schedule. After the heat of the summer, this manage their land. This help takes the form of education, is a most wonderful time to be in the woods. advice and management recommendations, and cost share and We all know the statistics. Reduced from 90 million acres incentives so the private landowner can manage the forests they to 4.4 million acres, all across the South we have scattered are growing, as well as build the forests of the future. patches of longleaf forests. A few tracts contain groves of We would also like to invite all our partners and readers to longleaf hundreds of years old. However, we more commonly head down to Mobile for the 10th Biennial Longleaf Conference find stands with a few scattered longleaf or tracts of land that and 9th Eastern Native Grass Symposium, October 21-24, were harvested years ago and have grown up in brush, water 2014. We have a full schedule packed into these 4 days oak, sweetgum and scattered patches of loblolly pine. But the including seminars, socials, and field trips. There will be groundcover is still there and the wildlife is still there, just plenty of opportunities to learn from the experts, visit with waiting for new owners to realize what they have and introduce friends, and network with fellow longleaf landowners and a little management. It is amazing what the introduction of managers. prescribed fire or some thinning operations can do to open up A quick reminder for those of you that have not yet ordered the forest. Some of these tracts may need to be fuel chipped seedlings to be planted in the next few months; get on it! and the forest started anew with site prep and the planting of Several nurseries still have seedlings available but they are seedlings. Some of the tracts have good stands of loblolly that going fast. A current listing can be found on our website: the landowner may choose to carry out to their full rotation www.longleafalliance.org. So get out and enjoy the fall before planting a new forest. Other landowners may choose to woodlands and we will see you in Mobile! start thinning the loblolly and opening up gaps that will then be planted with longleaf.
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Longleaf Alliance Staff Robert Franklin Randy Tate Board of Directors Robert Abernethy SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership Ft. Stewart/Altamaha Longleaf Angus LaFaye – President Coordinator Restoration Partnership Chairman [email protected] [email protected] Coordinator 803-480-1849 843-893-7775 [email protected] Barclay McFadden – 404-664-0586 Vice-Chairman Ad Platt Mark Hainds Lynda Guerry Beam Vice President of Operations Restoration Coordinator Mike Thompson [email protected] EST Supervisor Judd Brooke [email protected] 850-982-8480 334-427-1029 [email protected] Robert D. Brown Katherine Eddins Anne Rilling Tom Livers Donna Vassallo Vice President of Business Development Director EST Member E. Cody Laird, Jr. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Julie Moore 334-427-1029 334-427-1029 Dick Porterfield Casey White Vernon Compton Ryan Mitchell Administrative Assistant Salem Saloom GCPEP Director Outreach & Technical [email protected] Charley Tarver [email protected] Assistance Coordinator 850-623-0987 [email protected] Bob Wilken Beryl Trawick 850-758-8559 Fire Specialist George Tyson Carol Denhof [email protected] Marc Walley Understory & Media Coordinator Brian Schumann [email protected] EST Member Karen Zilliox 678-595-6405 [email protected] EST Field Leader [email protected]
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uPComing events
Splitbeard bluestem. Photo by Beth Maynor Young. 2014 longleaf 101 Academy November 17-21, 2014 Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership Area www.longleafalliance.org/events This course will introduce the participant to the history 10th regional longleaf Conference & 9th eastern native and cultural significance of longleaf pine and provides grass symposium the foundation for successful longleaf restoration and October 21-24, 2014 management. Mobile, AL www.longleafalliance.org/events/2014-longleaf-alliance- Check The Longleaf Alliance website regional-conference (www.longleafalliance.org) for updates on scheduled events
fAll mAnAgement CheCklist
Apply Fall Site Preparation Herbicides: Harvest Native Herbaceous Seeds: Certain For maximum efficacy, foliar active species, such as the Indian Grasses herbicides such as glyphosate (Sorghastrum spp.), ripen and fall in a very short (Roundup®/Accord®) should be applied time window (as little as 1 or 2 weeks). Ripe to pasture grasses before the first frost. wiregrass Aristida stricta or A. beyrichiana can Conversely, triclopyr (Garlon®) may be lose all of its ripe seed if a cold front blows delayed until after the first frost if through. Be watchful and move quickly! targeting waxy leaf competitors while minimizing impact to herbaceous Order Native Seed for Understory Restoration: groundcover. Allow time for soil active Seed from local ecotypes and endemic species herbicides to break down before planting is limited and expensive. Some landowners and longleaf, especially those with the active land managers have the time and expertise to ingredient imazapyr collect their own seed, but most restoration will (Arsenal®/Chopper®). be done with seed purchased from the few seed companies that sell southeastern seed sources. Apply Mechanical Site Preparation Treatments: Scalp agricultural sites, but Plant Longleaf: It’s never too early to plant remember to stay strictly on the contour longleaf if the following conditions are met: the and pick the scalper up regularly. site is prepared (see Fall Site Prep Leaving waterbars in the furrow will recommendations), there is adequate soil greatly reduce erosion. Subsoil or rip moisture, seedlings are available, and a planting sites with hardpans, but remember to not crew is available. plant seedlings directly into the subsoiled/ripped furrow. Clean up or Fall Foraging: Oyster, reishi, lion’s mane, and establish fire lanes for site prep or fuel other mushrooms are there for the picking. This reduction burns. will be a bountiful year for longleaf seed, which taste just like the pine nuts we use on salads. Chinquapin & hickory nuts are great, if you can beat the squirrels. Speaking of small game, squirrels fattened on shiitake mushrooms taste especially good.
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from the inbox
Planting on Red Creek Preserve, Jackson, MS. We recommend planting longleaf seedlings in the Photo by Becky Stowe. fall as soon as adequate soil moisture is present. In Alabama, that is generally mid-November. This gives the seedlings time to put on new growth before they go dormant. As you know, we had multiple hard freezes this past winter. We observed more damage to the seedlings that were planted late compared to those that were planted earlier. The most damage was observed in seedlings planted a few days before the hard freezes. Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions. Sincerely, Ryan
Mark, Q. What is your thinking concerning adding 3 ounces of Oust® in a site prep tank mix? The site in question is a cutover that will be sprayed and burned for site prep. Adding the Oust® in the site prep is practical. We do not have a lot of herbaceous release spraying being done. It would be unlikely that we could get a contractor to apply the Oust® in the spring. P.T., Mississippi
P.T., Ryan, A. We did some of the early trials for DuPont with Q. We are planning on planting 60 acres of longleaf Oust® in fall site prep applications. We found that in central Alabama this winter. A chemical site prep sulfometuron (the active ingredient in Oust®) is a is scheduled for application in August. My forester reasonable addition to fall SP applications - in lieu of is planning on conducting a site prep burn in a spring herbaceous release. It has become fairly rare October. I received an EQIP contract and they will for us to follow up herbicide site prep applications on plant 622 trees per acre in February. He said he is cutover sites with a spring herbaceous release, because waiting until February to plant to avoid the hard we typically include a combination of Oust® or freezes that may kill the trees. What do you think Oust® Extra in the fall site prep. about this timeline? However, I recommend against the inclusion of Thank you, sulfometuron on site prep applications on agricultural John, Alabama sites, because we have seen terrible root growth on newly planted longleaf behind herbicide site preps on John, agricultural sites that included Oust®. This may A. Congratulations on the financial assistance through have to do with higher pH soils that we find on ag the EQIP program. As I look through the plan, a few sites. things pique my curiosity. First, it is best to wait at To summarize, I think it is a good idea on cutover least 60 days from the time a site is chemically site sites, and a bad idea on agricultural sites. prepped before conducting a burn. This will allow Sincerely, the herbicide to translocate throughout the plant and Mark achieve better control.
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Green Side up Advice from Mark
Good &Terrible Choices for Longleaf Understory Restoration By Mark Hainds, The Longleaf Alliance
South Carolina planted field dominated by ‘Alamo’ switchgrass. Photo by Wilfred Pace.
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Thousands of acres of young longleaf stands are being seeded Switchgrass, Panicum virgatum – Sudie Thomas and Dick with native warm season grasses (NWSG). Typically, native Yetter with the USDA –NRCS recently described a situation forb seed is included in these mixes to increase aesthetic appeal, and sent a photo from South Carolina where the ‘Alamo’ provide diversity, and serve as food sources for our native birds, cultivar of switchgrass over-topped young longleaf seedlings. game species, and pollinators. Some herbaceous species may Scott Phillips with the SC Forestry Commission told us that be fine in agricultural settings, but they can be very most of the longleaf did not survive on this site. He attributed problematic when seeded adjacent to newly planted longleaf the failure to competition and the intense burning conditions pine seedlings. associated with switchgrass. It is almost certainly preferable to The following is a shortlist of species that we recommend utilize native grasses that are shorter in stature when planting against inclusion in your NWSG mixes, especially if this mix NWSG mixes around young longleaf. Suggested alternatives: will be sown or drilled adjacent to young longleaf pine splitbeard bluestem (Andropogon ternarius), nodding/slender seedlings. Indian grass (Sorghastrum elliottii), and little bluestem Large Flower Partridge Pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata: Large (Schizachyrium scoparium). flower partridge pea was included in numerous Conservation Florida Beggar-Weed, Desmodium spp.: This species is, or Practice 36 (CP 36) plantings across the South. Hundreds of was, listed as a recommended forb in at least one southeastern acres of longleaf in the 1-5 year old age range have been lost to state guide for CP 36 NWSG mixes. This is a problematical overly aggressive partridge pea dominating fields that were recommendation because most seed companies sell Desmodium previously in agriculture. The Lark selection of this species tortuosum , an Asian annual weed common in peanuts & has proven to be particularly aggressive and should not be soybeans, as “Florida Beggar Weed.” Suggested alternatives: included in NWSG plantings adjacent to longleaf. Suggested Our perennial native Florida beggar-weed (Desmodium alternatives: Small flower partridge pea (C. nictitans) or spurred floridanum) or any of the 30 plus species of native Desmodium butterfly pea (Centrosema virginianum). spp. that grow in the native longleaf pine ecosystem. Other common examples are: D. paniculatum, D. strictum, D. lineatum, and D. ciliare.
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BuildinG the Future By Ad Platt, The Longleaf Alliance lOnGleAF FOreSt
Planted longleaf field in North Carolina. Photo by Robert Abernethy.
Each day, the Alliance has the opportunity to hear from and currently have say or control over critical land decisions, visit with landowners who manage beautiful and unique involve your family or others who might be an important part longleaf stands, and who are daily earning much enjoyment and of future success. An essential component of developing this appreciation in doing so. But part and parcel of the technical vision is the establishment of strategic goals and objectives. assistance provider’s role is helping find solutions and Think short, mid-term, and long-term, as forest investments alternatives that may help landowners reach their personal are realized over considerable timelines. What matters most objectives with less expense and time. in meeting your objectives? And what also matters, even if it Knowing that most of us have very few opportunities in life is not the top priority or objective? Determining realistic goals to build a perfect forest, let’s take the opportunity to think and prioritizing objectives is important because it allows for about factors that help ensure success. We want to avoid the flexibility in developing management plans. Flexibility gives expense and regret that can come with experience and feelings the landowner the ability to adapt to any obstacles that are met of; could have, would have, and should have. To reach long- over time. Sometimes we get caught up in controlling how term objectives, landowners should draw upon the combined things are done, keeping us from considering alternative resources of experience, information, and assistance that are methods or techniques. Seek out people with experience, available. In general, these recommendations for achieving whether technical specialists or contractors, and utilize their successful outcomes can be grouped under one of the following knowledge, experience, and creativity. At the end of the day, categories: Planning, Establishment, and Maintenance. the thing that matters most is the outcome of all this effort and investment. In order to take these dreams and make them reality, it is plAnninG necessary to create a management plan that will serve as a guide The first step of starting a new forest investment is for building your forest. Want to be special? Join the 4% out determining a vision for the land. Consider the future and of the 22 million forest landowners who actually have a current visualize what your forest should become. Even if they do not management plan. Very few landowners actively manage their
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forests and have a plan for future stewardship. At the same Know and follow all rules and regulations. Build your own time, these forests are under pressure from ever-increasing burn plan and prescription based upon your objectives and your threats like invasive species, wildfire, incompatible management plan. Accompanying maps are another critical developments nearby, or fragmentation over time. piece of your plan. Map out and build access lines and If you are investing in forest management, a harvest containment zones. Establish points on the ground that match operation may be an important step in regenerating the next points on your map. Establish safety zones, fuel breaks, and stand, rather than the end of the previous one. Know your contingency plans - if this line fails, we catch it here. With an stand before you cut it. Learn your land first, the special places accurate map and clear burn plan, you will ensure that anyone and the special challenges. What was growing there previously helping you or working on your tract is better able to guides your site preparation and gives advance warning about understand your directions and intent. your coming challenges as well as opportunities. The past is Anticipate problems and be proactive! Look out for those the best predictor of the future. How you harvest the previous “wolfy” loblolly trees on the hill. Know where your invasive stand will make a big difference for the future stand. species problems currently are, and take measures to ensure
Winter burn in South Carolina. Photo by Robert Abernethy. Hand planting longleaf in Georgia. Photo by Anne Rilling. “The past is the best predictor of the future. How you harvest the previous stand will make a big difference for the future stand.”
It is essential that fire be included in any management plan future contracting operations don’t introduce more. Knowing that is developed for longleaf pine forests. Without fire, this how, in our part of the world, nature hates an empty space, be fire-dependent system will not thrive and long-term cautious that in killing one problem we don’t just create a management will be more difficult. This is a significant tool bigger problem. Full sunlight on the ground means something in the management toolbox that all landowners should use. If will capture that site. you are inexperienced with fire, team up with more experienced Lots of help is available, no matter the question or burners and pursue certification. Everyone started as a novice. information need. Professional expertise and incentives are Become a certified burner in your state for the knowledge, available in each state. The Longleaf Alliance can help connect network, extended permits and greater liability protection. you with these resources.
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eStABliShMent Site preparation is by far one of the most important factors waste your fuels. Burning weedy agricultural fields is difficult to address when establishing longleaf pines. Focus your site and not very effective. Not all fires are good; care, knowledge, preparation on the necessary competition control. But what and expertise lead to the best outcomes. Burn hot enough, but you keep is as important as what you kill. Killing all not overly hot. Longleaf can endure a lot, but damage may vegetation is easy. Using the delay reaching your objectives. Also, don’t overlook burning selectivity of herbicides can cost on the low end. Use the you less and leave you with more combination of temperature, of what you (and wildlife species) humidity, wind speed, weather want and need. patterns, fuel availability, and If establishing longleaf ignition techniques to execute seedlings, it is vital to “plant for your prescription or to establish success”. First, pick the right blacklines for a future burn day. site; optimum sites typically Monitoring the effects of the have acidic soils and sites that fire is often overlooked. This is have basic soils, high nutrients or an effective way to determine if standing water for extended you are accomplishing your periods should be avoided. objectives. If not, then your Know your soils, either through plan should be adapted to reach a soil test, or the WebSoilSurvey your desired outcome. (websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov). Keep burning for form, If your funds are limited, as they composition, disease control, are for most of us, money is and even protection from better spent on site preparation wildfire coming into your than on herbaceous release. property. Use extra care in these Plant good quality seedlings, vulnerable situations; when and know the difference between longleaf is making height good and poor quality. Get the growth from the grass stage to Seedling Quality DVD from the 6 feet in height, when young Alliance or watch the online trees are actively candling, and webinar on Container Grown when reintroducing fire into Seedling Quality hosted by long unburned stands. Southern Regional Extension Stay connected and Forestry. Earlier planting is Rhett Johnson providing knowledgeable with your generally more successful. Try technical advice at Longleaf developing investment. Walk Academy. Photo by Ad Platt. to finish planting before through your stand often not Christmas. If you are using only for the enjoyment of containerized seedlings, don’t plant them too deep; soil should learning more about your land, but also be alert to catch any never cover the terminal bud with container-grown seedlings. problems early. Most importantly, continue the vision – involve your family with an eye towards the future management. Changing course MAintenAnCe is expensive in time and money. But most of all enjoy it every Once your stand is established and seedlings are robust, with day you can and build a real appreciation for this legacy with a root collar diameter greater than .4 inches, ensure successful those future managers. regeneration by starting your burning early. Protect and don’t
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Cone drying boxes at USFS Ashe Nursery seed extraction facility in Brooklyn MS. Photo by Mark Hainds. longleaf Seed harvesting tricks of the trade By Mark Hainds, The Longleaf Alliance
Landowners often call The Longleaf Alliance (LLA) for advice on harvesting or selling their longleaf cones. The following is a series of questions we posed to Stanley Hinson, of Southern Seed Company. Southern Seed Company is owned by the Hinson Family, based in Baldwin, Georgia, and is one of very few forest seed companies that harvest, process, and store tree seed in the southeastern United States. This interview was conducted on July 29, 2014.
LLA: Most people are aware that longleaf pine stands do not we’ll go with 3s, 4s, 5s, even 7s. In a good year we get lots of consistently produce a harvestable cone/seed crop. This year, cones off small acreage. Also, in a poor year there is the 2014, looks to be a record year for cone production across most compounding problem of not enough yield or pounds of seed of the natural range. What minimum acreages or stand per bushel. requirements will you look for to harvest longleaf cones this LLA: What criteria define good quality longleaf pine seed? year? As a follow up question, what minimum acreages or HINSON: From the seed lab: 95% germination or better, stand requirements would you need if production was more moisture content 8% or below, and purity of 99% or better.” limited? We usually get this in a good cone year. The main thing that HINSON: This year we will collect from 300 acres or larger leads to poor seed quality is picking the cones too early. Also, tracts. We like to get two tractor-trailer loads (2000-2500 it takes a long time to get the moisture of the seed down to bushels) of cones to make moving the equipment worthwhile. 8%. Opening (good) cones is not a problem, but wormy cones In poorer years, we need 600 acres, and some years we just won’t are a problem, especially in a poor seed year. Wormy cones harvest. In poor years, there has to be a “hot spot.” You’ll find won’t open, or they open a little bit. You generally get poor one tract that has enough to shake. As a general rule, when seed from wormy cones. You won’t have a problem with that you only see single cones in tree tops -one cone at each limb (wormy cones) this year. We train our pickers to not pick up tip – we do not shake them. In a poor year we’ll shake if there wormy cones. are twos and a few threes on limb tips. In a year like this (2014) {continued on page 12}
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{continued from page 11} LLA: Under what circumstances would you pay a landowner HINSON: Generally when you shake a tree, you will shake to harvest longleaf pine cones? out a few limb tips. If there is a good crop for the following HINSON: When we pay for cones on the tree – we do year, you can sometimes shake out the conelets and reduce cone everything. We can also offer a share of the seed. Sometimes harvest for the following year. Some of these stands we’ve we’d rather pay for the cones. Some people see this as “found shaken multiple times. Generally, you can’t tell we have even money.” I can’t give the price, it varies. The main thing about harvested a stand. But if somebody doesn’t know what they seed is the cost of collection. And if the land is close to our are doing – they can slip the bark. It looks like a red cockaded plant, we’re willing to collect fewer cones. woodpecker cavity with the resin flow. Generally, there are LLA: What percentage of their seed could landowners expect problems with barking the tree when the bole is not perfectly from a seed company in exchange for allowing their cones to round. You’ll slip trees with cat-face trees. Ideally, there is just be harvested? a short burst (of shaking), minimal injury, we get most of the HINSON: We offer 10%. Sometimes on bids it gets higher, cones and go to the next tree. but 10% is standard. On orchard cones you may see bids as LLA: Do you ever time your cone harvesting with timber high as 30%. harvesting? LLA: Are you seeing any trends in longleaf seed pricing? HINSON: We never have. It can be done, but loggers don’t And what factors affect these trends? want people around and we don’t want cones left on ground for HINSON: Supply and demand. If we get two poor cone years two or three days because they can get sun scorch and won’t in a row, and that has happened a couple of times in the last open.” ten years, we’ll see a spike in price because of the supply. Years LLA: Which longleaf seed sources are the hardest to come like this, we try to build up inventory. Price will level off and by? Are their niche seed sources that are especially valuable? will stay that way for a couple of years. It also depends on HINSON: The hardest is mountain longleaf. It grows on nurserymen, how much seed do they have left over? If we go steep land. Our machines are not really made to operate there. three years without harvesting good seed, the prices lead us to Sometimes we have to mow prior to shaking –make circles places we won’t normally pick. Some smaller nurserymen won’t around the trees we need to harvest. That adds a lot of cost. grow (if prices get too high). LLA: What other factors or issues should a landowner LLA: How long can longleaf pine seed be stored under consider that I have not raised? optimal conditions? And, where/how would a landowner be HINSON: People call and say ‘I have a lot of trees, come shake able to store their seed under these conditions? them.’People are aggressively raising longleaf for wood HINSON: We offer seed storage. We will store at a minimal products, and their stands are too thick. That’s a basal area cost, enough to cover the power and keep it frozen. The main thing. We need room to operate these machines, and generally, thing on storing seed is the lower the moisture content the thick stands don’t produce as many cones per acre. Another better. If moisture is a little high, and it is kept three or more problem is going to a longleaf site and half of it is slash or years, then the seed loses vigor. It will still germinate, but it loblolly. We need, more or less, a pure longleaf stand. Low gets kind of lazy. If it is good seed from a good seed year, then basal area and burning are what makes a good stand. It works it can be stored five or more years. very well if they summer burn before we shake. We can see the LLA: How do you harvest longleaf pine cones? ground. Usually we look for a well-managed stand – no yaupon HINSON: We use rubber tracked skid-steers with big shakers. or bicolor! We can’t see the cones to pick them up. We stay We use the biggest ones we can, because the longer you shake away from those. Finally, it’s a good idea to have an extraction a tree, the better the chance of slipping the bark. place lined up prior to shaking cones this year. Everybody is LLA: Does harvesting the cones damage the tree? And, how going to have cones and it will be a bumper year for slash, often can you harvest longleaf cones from a given stand? loblolly, and longleaf.
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Understory By Carol Denhof, The Longleaf Alliance PlAnt SPotlight { SLENDER BLAZING STAR LIATRIS GRACILIS PURSH }
Description Other common species Slender blazing star is an herbaceous perennial plant in the aster There are many species of Liatris that inhabit the longleaf pine family (Asteraceae). This plant produces a central stem that ecosystem. The most common species that may grow along can grow up to 5 feet in height and is generally covered in soft with slender blazing star include shaggy blazing star (Liatris hairs. The leaves are long and narrow pilosa), shortleaf blazing star (Liatris measuring 2-8 inches in length and tenuifolia), and pinkscale blazing star Image of slender up to 1/3 inch in width. Being a (Liatris elegans). Shaggy blazing star and blazing star in member of the aster family, the slender blazing star are the most similar flower at the Solon purple flowers of this species are but can be differentiated based on the Dixon Forestry Ed- arranged in heads consisting of 7-12 presence of hairs on the stem of slender ucation Center. flowers and the heads are supported blazing star and none on shaggy blazing Photo by Carol by stalks that measure up to 1 inch star. Denhof. long. Flowering occurs from late Commercial Availability September through October. Cleaned, high quality seed of slender blazing star is available through Ernst distribution & habitat Conservation Seed (www.ernstseed.com) The distribution range of Liatris and Roundstone Native Seed gracilis runs from South Carolina, (www.roundstoneseed.com). The Florida south to Florida, and west to Wildflower Cooperative Mississippi. It generally occurs in (www.floridawildflowers.com) offers bulk sandhill & flatwoods habitats, seed for purchase and several Florida plant preferring the drier end of the nurseries offer plants for sale. spectrum. References Wildlife Uses Radford, A.E., H.E. Ahles, and C.R. Bell. 1968. Slender blazing star is Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. The extremely showy when in University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, bloom. Native pollinators NC. 1183 pp. utilize most species of Liatris USDA, NRCS. 2014. The PLANTS Database as nectar providing plants. (http://plants.usda.gov, 30 July 2014). National These plants will be covered Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 in bees and butterflies during USA. the fall flowering season. The seeds produced are also a source of food for songbirds of the longleaf forest. Distribution map for slender blazing star. PLANTS Database.
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lAndowner sPotlight
REDISCOVERING By Roy Barnett, Jr., with Ad Platt SILVOPASTURE WITH NRCS A team came together to help create Alabama's first silvopasture project under EQIP; from l to r, Tim Albritton, NRCS-AL Staff Forester, Roy Barnett, Jr., Charles Holmes, Perry County Soil and Water Conservation District, Richard Straight- USFS Lead Agroforester (Nebraska), Sutton Gibbs, NRCS District Conservationist, Cedric Hudson, Alabama Forestry Commission. Photo taken by Eddie Jolley, NRCS-AL
Several contributors to The Longleaf Alliance are active and I was in my last semester of pharmacy school at Howard farmers. There appears to be a growing interest from this College, now Samford University. It was the second marriage subset regarding the integration of agricultural practices and for both of us! We were first married in the first grade in “The longleaf management, so we thought it timely to revisit the Wedding of the Flowers”; Inez was the “Lily of the Valley” and topic of silvopasture. The article that follows is from Roy I was “Johnny Jump-up”. We remained sweet hearts through Barnett, Jr., a native of Perry County, Alabama, and a long- high school. Marriage led to three daughters, all of whom are time pharmacist and community leader in Marion, Alabama. pharmacists today: the apples don’t fall far from the tree! Roy begins his story with a story. “I feel a lot like Jerry Four years after I began my pharmacy career, we had an Clower, the wonderful, loveable Mississippi comedian, when opportunity to buy an existing pharmacy in our hometown and he said, ’The first college football game I ever saw…I played decided to head home. We ran into difficulty buying the store in!’ Well, it was somewhat like that for me, the first and establishing credit, so Mr. Donavan, Inez’s father, offered silvopasture I ever saw was mine.” says Roy. to put up 800 acres of his dairy farmland as collateral. With Roy does not claim to be an expert, but he does have a story his help, we became pharmacy owners. This was my first to share about how his family became involved, and began to connection with the land. care about the land and conservation. It’s really a story about With Mr. Donavan’s death in 1974, we actually began to what NRCS does every day, “Helping people help the land.” manage the property deeded to us, along with other land Inez The partnership Roy and his family formed with Sutton Gibbs inherited. For the first several years we rented most of the land and her staff in the Marion NRCS office is an example of that to a wheat and soybean farmer. It was during this time that motto in action, both showing and helping to lead these the farm really started to take on a different role in our lives. improvements from day one. We placed 150 acres in the 10 year CRP program, planting Roy and his wife Inez grew up in Marion, Alabama, a small it to fescue. The pastureland developed into a hay business, college town situated in the heart of the Black Belt that is home mainly with dairy farmers. That did well until the market to Judson College and Marion Military Institute. Roy says, ended with the dairy buyout. Next, we turned the farm house “We were married after she graduated from Auburn University into a camp just outside of town, and began to enjoy it for
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Landowners Inez and Roy Barnett, Jr. – Growing a Touring the silvopasture. Photo by Tim Albritton. legacy on their land. Photo courtesy of Roy Barnett.
recreation. But attitudes about the land in the Barnett family They offered suggestions for tree thinning to optimize tree were changing, and our story continued to change. The land density and grazing space. We hosted workshops that provided was becoming a priority to all of us as the next generation helpful discussion on grazing practices and cattle rotation with arrived. No longer was it just collateral! goats to clean up privet and other underbrush. As a city councilman, I was appointed to serve on the ASC The 120 acre silvopasture will carry 30 to 40 brood cows. board to represent the city of Marion. Serving on this board, I With the final thinning of the pines in 2012, we opened up the became more aware of what NRCS really did and the services canopy and reduced basal area to a target of 50 sq. ft. to allow it offered. These programs help landowners in so many areas more grazing area. We run in total 100 head of brood cattle, to put conservation practices in place. operate the Donavan Fishing Club, and run the “The Donavan During the 80’s we bought some adjacent acres, and with Inn,” a restored 1890’s farm house. It is a really scenic place my father’s passing, inherited his timberland. The four tracts there on the lakes, and we have hosted over a dozen weddings, total 1,240 acres. About 360 acres are in pasture and hay (over lots of receptions, and family reunions. The fishing club is 300 acres of this pastureland is divided into 16 paddocks each family friendly, as is the Inn, and they allow us to share our averaging 20 acres), 600 acres are in timber, mostly pines (150 land with folks who appreciate and enjoy it. of this is longleaf), 150 acres in lakes, and 120 acres in I cannot overstate the role NRCS and USDA have played in silvopasture. We are planning to plant another 100 acres of all this. NRCS programs and technical assistance have fueled longleaf that will become silvopasture in five to seven years. the engine that powered these improvements, including This is coming from a 77 year old couple that doesn’t buy green reestablishing forages, fence and cross-fence for silvopasture, bananas! managing water needs and heavy use areas near water, and I was first attracted to the idea of silvopasture by articles in establishing rotational grazing and riparian buffers around our Progressive Farmer magazine, and began to search online for lakes. more information. The idea of combining forestry for the long As a pharmacy owner I knew what I could do and what I term with cattle for cash flow, without sacrificing pine could not do. This same approach has worked well in production over the long haul, really got my attention. managing the farm. I quickly learned that I needed to surround My first inquiries to NRCS were before the program began. myself with good capable folks with successful experience. When it was funded under EQIP, we applied and were Let me close by sincerely thanking all of you who are approved. Together we completed the first silvopasture EQIP involved in “Helping people help the land.” You are the story. project in Alabama, which has since been used to host Our personal history with this land grew from collateral, to demonstration workshops for district, state, and national USDA additional income, to an investment, to a legacy. Our prayer is and NRCS staff. Early on, Sutton Gibbs and David Stewart that it continues to be an ongoing story for the next generation. were involved, along with NRCS State Forester, Tim Albritton. [ 15 ] Fall-Longleaf-Leader_Layout 1 9/22/14 5:38 PM Page 19
Panel discussion with USDA Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack. Photo by Bob Nichols.
5-Year Anniversary Celebration FORAMERICA’SLONGLEAF RESTORATION INITIATIVE By Robert Abernethy, The Longleaf Alliance
In 2009, conservation partners from all across the South include The Southern Company, International Paper, USDA, came together and prepared the Range Wide Conservation Plan DOD and USFWS. for Longleaf Pine. Named America’s Longleaf Restoration “Conserving America’s longleaf forests is a team effort,” said Initiative (ALRI), this effort to restore the longleaf pine Robert Bonnie, USDA’s Under Secretary for Natural Resources ecosystem has grown to include over 30 partners including and Environment. “We are proud of the many restoration representatives of non-governmental conservation efforts on public and private lands and we encourage organizations, state and federal agencies, local implementation landowners and land managers to take advantage of USDA teams, forest industry, universities, and private landowners.On conservation programs that assist in planting and managing July 22, 2014, over 200 partner representatives from all over these forests.” the South met in Washington, DC at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of Panel Discussion with Secretary Vilsack America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative. The celebration then moved across Independence Ave SW to the Jefferson Auditorium where USDA Secretary Thomas J. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant Awards Vilsack moderated a panel discussion with Tom Tidwell, Chief The celebration kicked off with an announcement by the of the US Forest Service, John Conger, Acting Deputy National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) of $3.38 Undersecretary of Defense Installations and Environment for million in grants to restore the longleaf pine ecosystem. Fifteen the Department of Defense, Michael L. Conner, Deputy projects across eight states were selected to receive funding. Secretary of the Department of Interior, Brian Yablonski, These projects will restore more than 11,800 acres and enhance External Affairs Director for Gulf Power, Dr. Jennie L. over 116,000 additional acres of longleaf pine habitat. An Stephens, Executive Director, Sustainable Forestry Program, additional $3.8 million will be leveraged to accomplish these Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation, Mike Black, Chair of projects. Sponsors of NFWF’s Longleaf Stewardship Fund the Longleaf Partnership Council, Jim Karels, State Forester for
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1. 2. 3. 1. Luther Jones of NRCS (l) and John Dondaro of USFS (r) at 5-year Celebration. Photo by Lark Hayes. 2. Dr. Salem Saloom received an award for displaying exceptional leadership in his role of a private landowner of a longleaf forest. Pictured l-r: Salem Saloom and Dianne Saloom. Photo by Lark Hayes. 3. The Longleaf Partnership Council, represented by Mike Black and Vernon Compton received an award for expanding collaboration and partnership across the longleaf range. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation received an award for successfully leveraging public and private investments to expand and accelerate the management and restoration of America’s longleaf forests. Pictured l-r: Bruce Beard, David O'Neill, Vernon Compton and Mike Black. Photo by Lark Hayes.
the Florida Forest Service and Vice President of the National “I want to be involved in restoring this American Heritage and Association of State Foresters, and Dr. Salem Saloom, longleaf provide clean water and clean air for the next generation landowner from Brewton, Alabama and board member of The through well managed, higher quality, burned woods. How to Longleaf Alliance and the American Forest Foundation. engage the un-engaged landowner is our biggest challenge.” Secretary Vilsack kicked off the discussion by asking the group Secretary Vilsack closed the discussion by stating that he has how the USDA can encourage longleaf reforestation, protection heard the cry for more longleaf acres, more engaged landowners, and management with our private landowners. Vilsack said, more corporate support and more species protected. “We at “This is your vision; this is your mission and we are proud to USDA are committed to the process,” he said. be part of it.” Mike Black stated that, “The strength of the Longleaf Atrium Reception Partnership Council is in the member partners. We are all there Following the panel discussion, the crowd moved back to for the whole system and the real success is the work of the the Atrium of the USDA Whitten Building overlooking the Local Implementation Teams set up on each Significant Mall for a reception where Jason Weller, Chief of the USDA Geographic Area.” Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) spoke of the When asked by Secretary Vilsack why he got involved and commitment of the NRCS and Larry Earley, author of Looking started planting longleaf, Dr. Saloom stated that income and for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest spoke of markets were not the major deciding factor. Dr. Saloom said, where we have come and where we have yet to go. {continued on page 18}
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Meeting with Undersecretary Robert Bonnie The celebration continued on July 23 with a two hour meeting between representatives of the Longleaf Partnership event Council and Undersecretary Bonnie to discuss how we could best continue to move the restoration effort forward. Several sponsors key points emerged from the meeting including: G American Forest Foundation • Expanding the use of prescribed fire on private land is crucial G American Forests to success. G Darden Consulting • We must maintain and expand the understanding that fire G DJ Case and Associates in the woods is a natural process. G DOD
• We will expand longleaf acres by working more in existing G stands of loblolly than in agricultural field conversion. DOI G Forest Investment Associates • Longleaf marketing efforts need to increase as the flow of quality longleaf wood products increases. G International Paper G Lark Conservation Consulting LLC • We need to “broaden the base.” The US population in general needs to understand what we have lost and why G National Association of State Foresters restoration of this ecosystem is important. G National Fish and Wildlife Foundation • Maintaining Farm Bill programs is critical to the success of G National Wild Turkey Federation the restoration effort. G National Wildlife Federation Hill Visits G Plum Creek Also occurring on July 23, over 40 participants spread out G Resource Management Service, LLC over the Hill to visit with and thank their elected representatives in the Senate and House for supporting longleaf G SAF pine in the Farm Bill and other programs. Participants G Southern Company conducted meetings with representatives and staffers from G Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Southern Group of State Foresters Carolina, and Texas. Special thanks to Rita Hite’s team G Sustainable Forestry Initiative
(American Forest Foundation) and Louie Perry’s team G (Cornerstone Governmental Affairs/ the NWTF) for organizing The Conservation Fund and setting up all the meetings. G The Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway Conclusion All participants agreed that the effort was worth it and the G The Longleaf Alliance people involved with the meetings, discussions, and receptions G The Nature Conservancy have a better understanding of America’s Longleaf Restoration G Initiative and an appreciation of the dedication of the partners. USDA For more pictures and press releases on the event, go to G Weyerhaeuser AmericasLongleaf.org. Congratulations to all involved. G Wildlife Mississippi
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By Mike Black, National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, Longleaf Partnership Council Chair longleaf Partnership Council news “ ATIMETOCELEBRATE ”
After a century of loss of longleaf forests across the range, we from the major event action items all the way down to the have reversed this trend and have in the last decade actually smallest detail. At risk of leaving many of those off the list, I increased the net acreage of longleaf. This is no small want to thank several for their hard work – George Gay for his accomplishment and the longleaf community has reason to efficient and weekly conference calls, John Dondero for his pause and celebrate. Many factors have worked together to coordination, Lark Hayes for an outstanding video for the event achieve this measure of success from the necessary funding and photos from the event, Luther Jones and the entire NRCS down to the work on the ground by the local implementation staff, Troy Ettel for the outstanding local implementation team teams. posters, and Robert Abernethy, Rita Hite and Louie Perry for The longleaf community stands between two significant five organizing the Hill visits. year celebration events. Recently, over 200 longleaf In October we will once again celebrate the five year professionals and supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. for accomplishments at the joint 10th Biennial Longleaf a series of events celebrating the five year progress, the turn Conference/Eastern Native Grass Symposium and Longleaf around in the loss of longleaf acres, and the realization of future Partnership Council meeting in Mobile, Alabama. The challenges and objectives. From press conferences, panel celebration will kick-off on Tuesday night and the theme will discussions and receptions the first day and NGO meetings and carry on throughout the week long events. Hill visits the second – longleaf was the center of attention. I hope to see you there – we all have a lot to celebrate! None of this happened without a tremendous amount of work
Apalachicola Longleaf, Present and Future By Brian Pelc, The Nature Conservancy
The Apalachicola Regional Stewardship Alliance (ARSA) Local Implementation Team is working to restore longleaf pine ecosystems on their conservation lands and has already provided over half a million longleaf pine seedlings in 2014. The 2015 planting season is on track for 180,000 longleaf seedlings planted on 260 acres of public conservation lands. ARSA members are also taking the message of longleaf directly to private landowners with a series of workshops. The first of these events took place on May 14th in Washington County, FL and provided information, a guided tour, and lunch to 50 ARSA members cooperatively managed over participants. A fall workshop is in the planning stages now and will target 100,000 acres last year. Here The Nature Conservancy’s Ecosystem Restoration Team landowners in the Calhoun/Liberty County area in mid-October. treats invasive cogon grass on Apalachicola ARSA is pleased to announce that they were awarded a second NFWF National Forest. This work is supported by the Longleaf Stewardship Fund grant in July. In this NFWF project, the team plans ARSA MOU as well as other agreements to plant over 480,000 longleaf seedlings on 816 acres, provide 25,000 acres of among ARSA members. Photo by Brian Pelc. prescribed fire assistance to partners, and offer two additional workshops for private landowners. Florida Forest Service, in cooperation with The Florida Natural Areas Inventory released a report and database in mid-August, capturing the extent and condition of longleaf throughout the state. LITs in Florida are coordinating to utilize the data for conservation plans and targeted outreach to landowners within each local region. These plans, developed over the next year, will describe current status, threats, and plans to support longleaf.
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News from the Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership (CFLCP) By LuAnn Craighton, Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership
In August, the 10,800-acre Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area (CFLWMA) opened, providing new opportunities for public hunting and other outdoor recreation in the region. The CFLWMA was created through a unique partnership among the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the U.S. Army at Fort Benning. As part of Fort Benning’s Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program, TNC was able to purchase the land as well as secure conservation easements, in partnership with the Chattahoochee Valley Land Trust (CVLT.) In May 2014, TNC sold 8,800 acres of their ACUB holdings to the State of Georgia. This property, along with an additional 2,000 acres still owned by TNC, will CFLCP Full Partnership meeting participants en- joyed a field trip to the new Chattahoochee Fall Line be jointly managed as the CFLWMA. Management of the CFLWMA WMA prior to its opening to the public. Photo by will focus on restoration of the longleaf pine ecosystem. Stands of both Amanda Snow. naturally occurring and planted longleaf pine, in various age classes, are present across portions of the CFLWMA landscape. During June, the CFLCP held its biannual Steering Committee meeting in conjunction with the fourth “CFLCP Full Partnership” meeting. The Steering Committee meeting focused on the Partnership’s MOU, opportunities for leveraging and funding the Partnership’s work, and discussing the development of the Partnership’s Conservation Plan. The Full Partnership meeting was attended by 41 members representing 16 different affiliations. The Full Partnership meeting agenda included: a program by Matt Elliot (GADNR) on estimating gopher tortoise populations in GA, updates on the new CFLWMA and other regional conservation activities, and a field trip to the Fort Perry Tract of the new CFLWMA.
Successful Longleaf Conservation Field Day Held in Southeast Georgia By Randy Tate, The Longleaf Alliance
Seventy hearty South Georgia landowners and agency employees didn’t let a little summer heat keep them from attending a Longleaf Conservation Field Day in Telfair County, GA, on June 24th. The success of the field day is attributed to the many partners of the Ft. Stewart/Altamaha Longleaf Restoration Partnership coming together to plan and carry it out. The Orianne Society hosted the field day at their Indigo Snake Preserve along Horse Creek, a tributary of the Altamaha River. Attendees travelled via trams provided by the Georgia Forestry Commission to five different field stations to hear information on Longleaf Conservation Field Day at Orianne Indigo various longleaf conservation topics. Georgia Department of Natural Snake Preserve. Photo by Randy Tate. Resource staff informed folks about managing for wildlife in longleaf forests. Longleaf Alliance staff discussed longleaf planting and the importance of groundcover to restoring longleaf pine habitat. Staff from the Orianne Society discussed conversion of sand pine to longleaf. Other staff from the Orianne Society provided the willing a hands-on experience with various native reptiles. After a barbeque lunch, staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service informed the attendees of the cost share programs that exist for site preparation, planting, and burning longleaf pine. The field day was made possible by a Longleaf Stewardship Fund grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Longleaf Stewardship Fund is also supported by Georgia Power. Additional funding and door prizes were provided by the National Wild Turkey Federation.
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GCPEP Receives Longleaf Stewardship Fund Grant By Vernon Compton, The Longleaf Alliance
The GCPEP partners were very pleased with the announcement of a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Longleaf Stewardship Fund grant to support longleaf restoration efforts across the GCPEP landscape. The grant amount is $267,000.00 and includes support for important conservation work such as prescribed fire, invasive species control, mid- story treatments, and 330 acres of longleaf restoration that will be completed by the Florida Forest Service. In addition, a reticulated salamander habitat improvement project will be completed on Nokuse Plantation, understory demonstration areas will be established on 2014 Longleaf Stewardship Fund Grant Recipients. partner land, and a large invasive species control special project will be Photo by Lark Hayes. completed on Florida Department of Environmental Protection land. Private landowner outreach and education will also be supported through the grant. Much of the on the ground work supported by the grant will occur with assistance from the GCPEP Ecosystem Support Team (EST), a team of resource experts that assists the partners in Florida and Alabama with prescribed fire, invasive species control, mechanical treatments, monitoring, and training programs. The partners appreciate the public and private partners that support the Longleaf Stewardship Fund including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and private funding from Southern Company and International Paper’s Forestland Stewards Initiative.
“Fire on the Forty” Campaign Expanded in Mississippi By Tamara Campbell, MS Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks
Since inception in 2011, the “Fire on the Forty” campaign has approved 35,970 acres to be burned in select geographic regions of MS with funding available for the next ranking in 2014. Given the high demand from landowners, new funding sources were attracted to the program to include funds from the MS Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, MS Partners for Fish and Wildlife (MPFW), National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the U.S. Forest Service in cooperation with the MS Forestry Commission. In response to an increased demand, we've also seen an increase in the supply of prescribed fire contract services. A series of prescribed fire workshops have been conducted across A certified prescribed burn manager inspects the fire the program's range to educate private landowners about the benefits line during a demonstration burn as part of a Pre- of prescribed fire and to provide hands-on experience for those interested scribed Fire Workshop for landowners. Photo by in participating in a prescribed burn. Melissa Moore. The program has been expanded to include the following focal counties: Prentiss, Monroe, Lowndes, and Noxubee in north Mississippi; Pearl River, Lamar, Forrest, Pike, Walthall, Marion, Jefferson Davis, Covington, and Amite in south MS, with additional funding available for longleaf pine in select counties in the longleaf pine native range. Focal counties were selected based on key habitats where conservation action can directly benefit wildlife species of greatest conservation need. The campaign was designed to promote prescribed burning on private lands by providing cost share assistance to private landowners. Although prescribed fire is one of the best tools used for managing forests and wildlife habitat, costs and liability have posed concerns among private landowners. This cost share program provides up to 50% of costs associated with conducting prescribed burns on private property. Landowners can submit applications for the program by October 1, 2014. Applications will be competitively ranked and selected for funding by the MPFW. For more information about the “Fire on the Forty” program, including project application forms, visit www.mdwfp.com/fireontheforty, contact Tamara Campbell (email [email protected]), or call 601-432-2199.
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Updates from North Carolina By Susan Miller, US Fish & Wildlife Service & Hervey McIver, The Nature Conservancy
The Onslow Bight Conservation Forum and North Carolina Sandhills Longleaf Restoration Task Force (on behalf of the North Carolina Sandhills Conservation Partnership) have each received $300,000.00 in NFWF Longleaf Stewardship Funds. These funds will directly lead to an increase in fire capacity on public and private lands in addition to establishment, enhancement, and restoration of longleaf. These funds will also enable contractors to engage more than 120 private landowners by providing technical assistance. These habitat improvements and management activities will also benefit several military bases (Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point and Fort Bragg) in Central and Wiregrass & Longleaf at Holly Shelter Game Land. Photo Eastern North Carolina. by Mark Daniels. The Onslow Bight partners are developing a priority private landowner list. These people will be informed by the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) of regional longleaf pine educational opportunities and, if interested, will receive technical assistance. The NWTF will also work with landowners with existing Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts to reach full implementation of their contracts. This work will be supported by the new 2014 NFWF Longleaf Stewardship Program grant. The North Carolina Sandhills Conservation Partnership, Greater Uwharrie Conservation Partnership and North Carolina Longleaf Coalition held a joint meeting on September 10, 2014. The goal was for each group to share important lessons learned related to longleaf restoration and benefit from each other’s experiences. The group also looked at longleaf restoration efforts that could eventually re-connect the Sandhills and Uwharries.
Beginning the Work of Getting it Done: Ocala Longleaf Pine Local Implementation Team By Cheryl Millett, The Nature Conservancy
The Ocala Longleaf Pine Local Implementation Team (OLIT) met for the second time in early May at Ocala National Forest. We spelled out what resources the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Longleaf Stewardship Fund award brings and solicited on-the-ground projects. We reviewed other resources available for public and private lands. We also compiled a resource wish list. As soon as the NFWF funding became available, The Nature Conservancy’s Northeast Florida Ecosystem Restoration Team began working on projects on conservation lands, from prescribed fire to invasive plant control. The private lands work to be Sunrise at the Paisley Woods in the Ocala National Forest. conducted in the OLIT region is through a partnership with the Photo by Carrie Sekerak. Florida Forest Service, which is offering restoration, maintenance, and technical assistance related to longleaf pine throughout its range in Florida. The request for projects closed recently and now the work of implementing those projects begins. OLIT was represented at the 5-year anniversary celebration of America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative at the Department of Agriculture, with the opportunity to meet coordinators of other LITs throughout the nine-state range of longleaf pine. Learning from their experiences, there’s inspiration to continue the work we’ve already begun and consider new directions.
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Sewee Longleaf Conservation Cooperative Assists Underserved Landowners By Colette Degarady, The Nature Conservancy
The Sewee Longleaf Conservation Cooperative (SLCC) is working closely with the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation (the Center) to assist historically underserved landowners with longleaf restoration and general forest management advice. Sam Cook, Sustainable Forestry Program Director from the Center, develops relationships with landowners who have forestry management needs. The SLCC coordinates with the Center to conduct site visits to these properties bringing additional partners including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services, Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, US Fish & Wildlife Service, SC Wildlife Federation, and SC Forestry Commission. From these visits, SLCC SLCC partners meeting with private landowner. Photo by representatives can provide forest management guidance and Rachael Bergmann. recommend the best cost-share program based on the landowner’s goals. With new National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding, the SLCC will also help survey select Center properties and develop management plans relating to longleaf restoration.
Sandhills Longleaf Pine Conservation Partnership Restoring Understory By Jimmy Lisenby, Partnership Coordinator
The Sandhills Longleaf Pine Conservation Partnership (SLPCP) continues to help private landowners with longleaf restoration efforts. Recently, a Prairie Habitats pull-type seed harvester and Grasslander Seeder™ were purchased using funds from a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant. This equipment will be used to restore 25 acres of native ground cover.Several test plots have been planted using the Grasslander Seeder™ and are being monitored to determine the effectiveness of different site prep methods, planting dates, and depths. Using the seed harvester, local native ecotype understory seed will be collected from several sites this fall and provided to USDA-NRCS District Conservationist Charles Babb talks contracted landowners. with local landowners William Lenz and Kasey Craven Landowners will be able about their longleaf conservation goals. Lenz and Craven to use the Grasslander have plans to establish 5 acres of native understory with the Seeder™ to establish SLPCP. Photo by Susan Griggs. their sites with the provided seed. Additionally, two seed production areas were established with container grown plugs of Liatris, Coreopsis, and Helianthus. These areas will be harvested and the seed used to supplement the collections from natural stands. Sandhills Longleaf Pine Conservation Partnership (SLPCP) Coordinator Jimmy Lisenby visited Washington DC for America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative five-year celebration to represent the SLPCP Local Implementation Team (LIT). In Washington, attendees met Liatris flowering in seed production with State Representatives and Senators to share accomplishments facilitated by grants area. Photo by Jimmy Lisenby. awarded through the NFWF Longleaf Stewardship Fund. They emphasized the importance of Farm Bill Funding to help continue and expand Longleaf restoration efforts.
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SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership awarded $280,000 grant from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation By Robert Abernethy, The Longleaf Alliance
SoLoACE is short for the Southern Low Country and ACE Basin of South Carolina. This summer, the partnership was awarded a $280,000.00 grant from NFWF to expand longleaf restoration in the nine counties running along the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. In August, The Longleaf Alliance hired Bobby Franklin as the coordinator and work has begun to engage private landowners along the river. Over the next two years, the partnership will be holding two Longleaf Academies and two workshops. A significant focus of these Academies will be prescribed fire education and a mentoring program teaching landowners how to conduct their own prescribed burning. The partnership will also be teaming up with Clemson University to produce a series of short videos on how to manage longleaf. Partners will also be working with landowners to plant 1,000 acres of longleaf and remove 625 acres of midstory.
Map prepared by Gary Burger, SCDNR.
Texas LIT Hosts Field Day By Kent Evans, Texas Longleaf Implementation Team
Led by Mark Hainds of The Longleaf Alliance, the Texas LIT hosted a field day in May on lands owned by Rufus Duncan (Scrappin' Valley) and several tracts of Campbell Global holdings. These properties are within the Longleaf Ridge Significant Geographic Area. Mark led discussions to address several silviculture challenges facing restoration on Longleaf in east Texas. The group had a mix of consultants, state and federal agency foresters, and land owners.
Longleaf Field Day in Texas; pictured from l-r Brian Gowin (Campbell Global host), Nick Muir, Ike McWorter, and Mark Hainds. Photo by Wendy Ledbetter, TX TNC.
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By Randy Tate, The Longleaf Alliance Historical Perspectives
The amazing picture below of old growth longleaf pine in East Texas is from the collection of the Ralph W. Steen Library at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX, and is part of their Thompson Brothers Lumber Company, 1847-1959, collection.
The Thompson family was one of the earliest lumber manufacturers in Texas. Beginning in 1852 Benjamin F. Thompson and his sons built a small sash sawmill in Northern Rusk County, which supplied local needs and also sold lumber as far west as Dallas and Ft. Worth. His son, John Martin Thompson, expanded and enlarged the mill buying new and improved machinery as it became available. In 1882 the family moved its operations to Trinity County where they built a large mill at Willard, on the Trinity and Sabine Railroad. In turn his sons developed several new mills and related companies, either in partnerships with members of the family or with other lumbermen. The Thompson family had mills at Willard, Douchette, Grayburg, New Willard, and Trinity, with headquarters in Houston. J. Lewis Thompson was a leading conservationist and an early supporter of the Texas Forestry Association and the Texas Forest Service. The widow of his brother, Mrs. Hoxie H. Thompson deposited some Thompson Papers, a history of the family lumbering business, and a great number of photographs with the Forest History Archives of the Stephen F. Austin State University Library. The pictures, especially, are most useful in recreating the history of the Texas lumber industry during the bonanza era. The picture above is noteworthy in that the original was in black and white. Somewhere along the line this one has been colored. Photo and information provided by Ralph W. Steen Library of Stephen F. Austin State University.
Old Growth Longleaf Pine, c.1908. Photo courtesy of Stephen F. Austin State University.
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By Anne Rilling, The Longleaf Alliance While you’re in the grass stage…
“Grass Stage” is a section just for kids and/or kids-at-heart. Longleaf forest management is a long-term endeavor and in order to keep the longleaf pine ecosystem in longleaf, the next generation must get engaged or else all of the hard work, restoration, and protection currently going on will be for naught. We hope you share “Grass Stage” with your “next generation” longleaf enthusiast. Lesson Thirteen: When European settlers arrived in the South, they found longleaf pine trees towering over a carpet of grasses as far as their eyes could see. Unlike cattle-farms of today, fences were not used and cattle were simply left free to roam about as they pleased. Use Lesson Thirteen found on our website (www.longleafalliance.org/nextgeneration) to complete this sentence. Scrambled Tiles Instructions Keep the letters, spaces, and punctuations within a particular tile as they appear. Instead, re-arrange the tiles to form words.
For example the arrows show the placement of the first two tiles. Hint: there are two sentences!
burned to enhance the growth of tender grass. tender of growth the enhance to burned
the longleaf pine forest. Forests were frequently were Forests forest. pine longleaf the
Prior to the twentieth century, cattle roamed free in free roamed cattle century, twentieth the to Prior Answer
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Arts & literAture
LITERARYREVIEW By Mark Hainds, The Longleaf Alliance
Painting the Landscape with Fire was published in 2013 by the University of South Carolina Press. Painting the Landscape with Fire has 218 pages and is available in hardcover and Kindle formats. An effusive forward is provided by an old friend of The Longleaf Alliance, Dr. Shibu Jose. Dr. Jose formerly worked with longleaf in Florida but is now employed as the H.E. Garrett Endowed Professor with the School of Forestry at the University of Missouri. Dr. Jose writes: “Latham definitely instills in the reader a sense of duty for supporting the management of conserved land for the benefit of the species involved and for humanity…. With his book, Latham has accomplished an admirable task of telling a complex story in a simple, yet powerful way and from a refreshing perspective.” Painting the Landscape with Fire is a collection of essays in which Mr. Latham accompanies a series of biologists, foresters, land managers, and landowners on guided tours of longleaf forests. These tours focus on prescribed fire, plants, birds, and snakes of the longleaf ecosystem. Mr. Latham transcribes his conversations from these numerous field trips with the goal of allowing the general public a window into a declining ecosystem that few will encounter with such detail. While some of the species and stories are unique to the Carolinas, most of the messages or themes transfer well to the ecosystem at large. A bio from the University of SC Press: Den Latham is a nature writer. His articles have appeared in South Carolina Wildlife, Pee Dee Magazine, Sandlapper Magazine, and the Aroostook Review. He is an extensive traveler and is a two- Painting the Landscape with Fire: time member of the US East Surf Kayak Team. He has two Longleaf Pines and Fire Ecology sons, Adam and Aaron, and lives with his wife Allison near By Den Latham Clemson, South Carolina.
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Arts & literAture
By Carol Denhof, The Longleaf Alliance longleAf Art SPotlight Artist: Melanie Walter
Starry-Eyed Fish Created with coiled longleaf pine needles, this fish measures 8” long, 7” high, and 5” deep. Beginning at the fish’s mouth, small pine needle coils were stitched together to form the head, body, and tail. Artificial sinew was used to stitch the coils together, and vintage buttons were used for the eyes. Longleaf pine needles were harvested on Melanie Walter's property in Wilmington, NC. Buttons are from her Grandmother’s button collection.
Walnut Two Ring Bowl A more traditional basket form, this coiled pine needle piece was stitched from the bottom center, outward, to form the shape. Artificial sinew was used to stitch the pine needle coils together. Black walnut slices are used for the ‘rings.’ Longleaf pine needles were harvested on Melanie Walter's property in Wilmington, NC. Black walnuts are from the Cary, North Carolina area.
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Arts & literAture
about the artist Having grown up in the metropolitan New York area, Melanie in dozens of juried crafts fairs, offered demonstrations in many Walter was exposed to the arts at an early age. Throughout her venues, taught classes, participated in arts competitions and life, she had an interest in expressing placed her work in galleries, shops and herself creatively and loved to learn museums. In 2001 she created her new skills in which to channel her own business, Pine Garden Baskets, creative energies. These skills were in and developed a website to share and the areas of music, voice, language, sell her work. Melanie will be and most importantly, the visual arts. exhibiting at the upcoming Longleaf Ms. Walter found her creative Conference & Eastern Native Grass home in clay and ceramics in the early Symposium in Mobile October 21-24. 1970's. In the mid 1990's, Ms. In addition to selling her beautiful Walter came upon her first pine wares, she will also be teaching 2 needle basket while helping a friend classes on pine needle basket making set up a local exhibit. She became and pine needle ornament making. interested in learning how to make these beautiful baskets, and could see how her background in clay could be utilized; both pine needle baskets and Tree of Life hand-built clay pots employed the Coiled longleaf pine needles were use of coils to build their form. stitched to nylon screening to establish the tree’s trunk and a few branches. Ap- Over the past 15 years, Melanie proximately 600 bamboo slices were has developed her own pine needle then individually stitched to the screen basket making style, incorporating to form the tree’s canopy. This framed many other natural items into her piece measures 34” wide, 50” high, and work including sliced black walnuts, 3 ½” deep. Pine needles and bamboo North Carolina river cane, hickory were grown locally in Wilmington, nuts, and shells. She has participated North Carolina.
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By Andrew Saunders, Mobile Botanical Gardens Longleaf Board President Destinations
Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile. Photo by Tad Denson. Mobile Botanical Gardens - Mobile, Alabama A 35-acre Urban longleaf forest
Rolling sandhills and ravines were a seamless topography Today, few longleaf stands, certainly none in an urban surrounding Mobile Bay when the old city was newly founded setting, depend on nature alone to survive and thrive. The ethic in 1702. Many of those hills and ravines, once canopied by of preservation and the practice of good management must be longleaf, are reshaped and unrecognizable as natural systems provided. So, every longleaf stand has a human story. Here’s today. But remnants can be found, and restoration efforts can Mobile Botanical Garden’s story: yield a naturally-preserved, full-featured, vibrant longleaf MBG is a 40-year-old member-supported, non-profit forest, even within the city limits. organization, organized around horticultural interests and Such a remnant longleaf forest—35-acres—has been restored assets. Much of our 100 acres is devoted to gardens of and is managed by Mobile Botanical Gardens in the heart of outstanding specimen collections—camellias, azaleas, maples, old Springhill, a western suburb of Mobile. Today, this herbs, ferns, and more, in addition to our longleaf forest. Our woodland passes two of the acid tests in longleaf forest health traditional gardens offer a tour worth taking for The Longleaf assessment: Alliance (LLA) visitors. • Long sightlines are common throughout the property But, for our Longleaf Forest history we need go back only between the high longleaf canopy and the fire-nurtured about 15 years. The forest we admire today as a living example understory, the beautiful signature of longleaf. of longleaf health was mainly a high oak thicket with big pines • There are patches of naturally-occurring, new-growth in it. The prospect of restoration at ground level was daunting. regeneration throughout our woodland. Everywhere you look, However, visionaries see not what is but what can be, and we sprightly grass-stage seedlings burst from the woodland floor had three visionaries and one important political supporter in their new-life green. It’s enough to make the gnarliest old from the start: woodsman grin. [ 30 ] Fall-Longleaf-Leader_Layout 1 9/22/14 5:39 PM Page 34
Heritage Oak Overlook at the Mobile Botanical Garden. Photo by Mobile Botanical Garden.
Fall wildflowers in the Mobile Botanical Garden longleaf forest. Bienville Square Fountain in Mobile, Alabama. Photo by Mobile Botanical Garden. Photo by Tad Denson.
Ann Bedsole—civic leader, forestlands owner, philanthropist For those visitors who find their way out of the woods during Bill Finch—naturalist, journalist, author or after the conference, here are a few local tips for eateries and Keville Larson—forest management executive and LLA entertainment: charter member Seafood on the Causeway is a Mobile institution. The Mike Dow - former mayor of Mobile Causeway is handy from the Riverview, head east through the These three, all friends of LLA, are still active in support and Bankhead Tunnel. There are several great seafood restaurants management of our longleaf forest, but at the beginning they along the way: Felix’s Fish Camp, R & R, Ed’s Shed, The were essential in providing the vision, the energy and the Bluegill, Original Oyster House, Laps, Tacky Jack’s—see what funding to transform this overgrown thicket into the beautiful I mean—plenty of places to eat great seafood. stand that we have today. It’s all about the reintroduction of Walking distance from your hotel in downtown Mobile fire, and these three knew it and found ways to convey it to (Dauphin St and adjacent streets) there are a variety of eateries: those of us who did not fully understand the essential The Royal Scam, Noja’s, Spot of Tea, and The Noble South. relationship of fire and longleaf. Mike Dow played a major role There’s also music and night life on Dauphin Street. See our in the beginning. Suffice it to say, he made fire in the city local rag, Lagniappe, which comes out weekly with a list of politically possible. We’ve now conducted seven controlled events and is available, free, and everywhere downtown. burns over about 12 years. For a nature tour of our delta, 5 Rivers Delta Resource Mobile Botanical Gardens is honored that The Longleaf Center on the Causeway offers short and beautiful cruises in the Alliance has chosen our site for a tour during the upcoming Mobile-Tensaw Delta. And, for those with more time to spend, Longleaf Conference & Eastern Native Grass Symposium this visit Mobile’s most famous home and gardens—Bellingrath fall. When you sit on the bench at the Heritage Oak Overlook located west of town on the Fowl River. pictured in this article, the story of our longleaf will be fully Enjoy your stay in beautiful old Mobile. told, wordlessly.
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P e o P l e
By Anne Rilling, The Longleaf Alliance BoBBy frAnklin JoinS the longleAf AlliAnCe Robert (Bobby) Franklin has been hired as the South Lowcountry and ACE Basin (SoLoACE) Longleaf Partnership Coordinator. He earned a B.S. degree in forestry from Auburn University in 1978. He also received an M.S. degree in forestry from Auburn in 1985. He is a registered forester in both Alabama and South Carolina and a Society of American Foresters Certified Forester. Bobby worked as an Extension Specialist at Clemson University from 1985 until he retired in 2014. Prior to joining the Clemson University faculty, he worked as an Assistant County Agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service in Escambia County and as a consulting forester and timber buyer in that state. Bobby has made a significant impact on landowners and natural resource professionals by organizing workshops, making site visits and Robert Franklin, newly hired SoLoACE Longleaf producing educational materials. Among Franklin’s Partnership Coordinator. publications are Stewardship of Longleaf Pines: A Guide for Photo courtesy of Robert Franklin. Landowners and Introduction to Prescribed Fire which teaches the benefits of prescribed burns for timber management, beginning of the organization. Franklin and his wife Barbara, wildlife habitat improvement and aesthetics. He has been an who live in Walterboro, have three children – Mary Beth, Scott advocate & volunteer for the Longleaf Alliance since the and Jess.
By Vernon Compton, The Longleaf Alliance llA WelCoMeS Mike thoMPSon AS gCPeP eSt SUPerviSor The Longleaf Alliance is pleased to welcome Mike Thompson as the new Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP) Ecosystem Support Team (EST) Supervisor. Mike will head up the team of resource experts that work across the GCPEP landscape conducting prescribed fires, controlling invasive species, completing mechanical treatments and ecological monitoring, and conducting fire training classes. Mike comes to the LLA from the Arkansas Chapter of The Nature Conservancy where he worked his way up to Fire Management Crew Leader and Fire Management Specialist positions. Mike graduated from Iowa State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Community Forestry. We are very glad to have Mike on board in a leadership role with the GCPEP EST. In 2013 the EST supported 63 fires on 57,595 acres, completed 767.55 acres of invasive species control, conducted 19,161 acres of mechanical treatments including hardwood and sand pine removal and red-cockaded woodpecker habitat improvement, 44 days of ecological and red-cockaded woodpecker monitoring, and led 10 prescribed fire training classes reaching 203 students.
Mike Thompson has joined the GCPEP as the new EST supervisor. Photo by Vernon Compton.
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P e o P l e
By Anne Rilling, The Longleaf Alliance WelCoMe to CASey White! Casey White recently started with The Longleaf Alliance as Administrative Assistant in the Dixon Center office. She received an AA degree from Pensacola State College and an AAS in Forest Technology from Lurleen B. Wallace Community College. Prior to joining the Alliance she worked as Comptroller for Gulf Coast Office Products and Sr. Accounting Clerk at Pensacola State College. Casey is a Pensacola, FL native living in Andalusia with her husband Steve. When not at the Alliance, Casey works for the Conecuh National Forest as a Personal Service Contractor and cruises timber for local consultants. Casey is an active member of Southside Baptist Church in Andalusia and enjoys hiking, kayaking, and fossil hunting. Casey White joins the Longleaf Allaince as our new Administrative Assistant. Photo by Anne Rilling.
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suPPort the AlliAnCe
By Tom Livers, The Longleaf Alliance it’s an excitingtime The 10th Biennial Longleaf Conference is almost here. The of the auction benefit The Longleaf Alliance’s mission. Your conference program of speakers is most impressive with support is, as always, greatly appreciated. nationally and regionally-renowned experts presenting on a Speaking of support, I wish to express our most sincere wide variety of topics filled with information you can take gratitude to our conference sponsors. Please contact me to join home and use. Register today at: this growing list of conference sponsors. www.longleafnativegrassconference.com. Have you thought about honoring a colleague, friend or If you act quickly, there is still time to become an exhibitor. family with a gift membership? One way you can support the Please contact me ASAP at 334-427-1029 or Alliance, which is easy and simple, is to become a monthly [email protected]. The exhibit hall is located in a high- donor. traffic area that permits you to talk with current customers and The Longleaf Alliance Facebook page hit a 1,000 plus “likes” meet new customers. in June 2014. With your help, we can aim for a goal of The silent auction is another exciting part of the conference. 2,000.Ask ten of your Facebook friends to “like” the Alliance. The auction features donated items including original artwork, The reason why we are asking for your help is simple. The more autographed copies of books, longleaf pine needle baskets, quail followers we have on Facebook, the more information we can hunting trips, and much more. If you have an item you wish distribute to increase awareness about the longleaf pine to donate, please send it to me prior to October 13, or if you ecosystem and its unique fauna and flora. are attending the conference bring it with you. The proceeds
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suPPort the AlliAnCe
Welcome to our newest Supporters!
Paschal Family Charitable Fund A.J. Hodges Industries, Inc. Johnny Tate George Franklin Crenshaw Land Management Group, LLC Debra King Guy & Jan Anglin Mark Dozier C. C. Dockery William Schoell Sally Neal Ronald Shumack Jim & JaeDe Keith Patrick Franklin Noel Brinkley Thomas Wright Gaskins Timber & Wildlife Mangement, LLLP Perdido Sprouts 4H Club
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h e A r t P i n e the Long ViewOF LongLeaf Mature longleaf forest with diverse understory. By Bill Finch Photo by Beth Maynor Young.
It’s not something we like to admit in public, have to be a little on the edge.
From Roland Harper to Bill Boyer, the ones who best graphs and formulas and the reasonableness of longleaf. understood the potential for longleaf stood well outside the A lot of folks in the industry snorted at Bob’s persistence. mainstream. Their obsession with longleaf, their confidence They raised their eyes in exasperation when someone asked that it offered something unique and important, and their about Bill Boyer’s latest longleaf research. They cracked a anxiety and disgust at what was happening to it was passed off twisted smile and walked away when anyone suggested that as naïve or even psychotic. longleaf could be an attractive investment for landowners. When you walked into the room with Bob Farrar, the These notions were so outside the mainstream, they were bitterness was so thick you could taste it. When he said we considered preposterous. don’t deserve a tree like longleaf, he said it with something And yet, in the year that both Bob Farrar and Bill Boyer fell approaching a snarl. He’d seen enough of what happened to silent, their arguments are not just being taken seriously, longleaf to believe that any rational person had to be pessimistic they’re starting to reshape everyone’s view of the South’s forest about its future, and Bob was a consummately rational man. and its future. But Bob never got tired of explaining, and re-explaining, his This fall will mark what I suspect will be a turning point in plan for managing longleaf, a mathematical plan that he the long view of longleaf. believed anyone could follow, a plan that tried to take full For years, longleaf advocates along the Gulf Coast have advantage of the values and lifecycles of the longleaf forest, talked about the potential for a major longleaf conservation while providing the landowner with stable income in effort along the Gulf Coast, an effort that would reconnect the perpetuity. last great fragments of longleaf. That vision is born out of a Sometimes, in the middle of explaining it, he’d stop himself. recognition that the longleaf ecosystem wasn’t a series of You could see the realism take over, and he’d look at you closely, islands. Its great strength was that it was like a giant river like he was trying to size up whether what he was saying was, flowing over the landscape, carrying richness from one region once again, wasted on you. But he’d pull himself back together to another, connecting riparian corridors, wetlands, broadleaf and start up again, a crusader trying to convert the infidels with coves, marshes and prairies, multiplying the resilience and
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“It’s a vision that will seem preposterous except to those of us on the edge, who understand longleaf’s usefulness and its unique ability to transform lives and landscapes.”
but those who take the long view of longleaf
productivity of all habitats. Imagining that this kind of imagined in the South, and it will require a new way of landscape could exist again requires what most people would thinking about how conservation is accomplished. dismiss as hopeless optimism, crazy naivete. Figuring out how The devil will be in the details. But so far, the devil hasn’t to make it happen requires a larger dose of Bob Farrar’s gotten the upper hand. And if it works, it has the potential to rationality and skepticism. restructure longleaf timber markets and change the But this fall, I think you’ll see both coming together. conservation equation across the Gulf of Mexico. In the September edition of Smithsonian Magazine, the well- As if to meet this challenge, a number of organizations, known writer Tony Hiss will be introduced the concept of a including The Longleaf Alliance, the E.O. Wilson Foundation, “long landscape” of longleaf pine connecting the Gulf Coast’s WildSouth, The Nature Conservancy and the Ocean great rivers and wetlands from Apalachicola back to the Mobile Foundation, are working with multiple universities and federal Tensaw-Delta. That’s a vision Hiss become enamored with after agencies to develop a coordinated study unit across the states spending weeks exploring the region with longleaf advocates of the northern Gulf, one that would provide the research and like E.O. Wilson and longleaf conservationist M.C. Davis, backbone to expand this conservation planning and effort from whose 60,000-acre longleaf restoration effort at Nokuse Okefenokee through the Florida Panhandle to Alabama, Plantation sits in the middle of this long landscape vision. Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Meanwhile, heads are shaking over a proposal made by one It’s a vision that will seem preposterous except to those of us of North America’s largest timber management organizations, on the edge, who understand longleaf’s usefulness and its RMS. In coordination with the Conservation Fund, that unique ability to transform lives and landscapes. organization has proposed restoring some 200,000 acres of Bob Farrar would grumble that we’re not smart enough to loblolly and slash pine plantations in Baldwin County, make something like this happen. And then he’d pull out his Alabama, and Escambia County, Florida, to a working longleaf charts and his formulas, and show you just how we could get forest and ecosystem. Doing that would require a conservation there. effort between public and private groups on a scale never before
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