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Our 25th Year of Blazing a Trail for Longleaf Restoration

Volume Xii - issue 4 WiNTeR 2020 19005112_Longleaf-Leader-WINTER-2020_rev.qxp_Layout 1 1/9/20 10:44 AM Page 3

19005112_Longleaf-Leader-WINTER-2020_rev.qxp_Layout 1 1/9/20 10:44 AM Page 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS

14 56 23 44 10 President’s Message...... 2 LANDOWNER CORNER ...... 23 Calendar ...... 4 TECHNOLOGY CORNER ...... 26 Letters from the Inbox ...... 5 REGIONAL UPDATES ...... 29 Understory Plant Spotlight...... 7 Wildlife Spotlight ...... 8 ARTS & LITERATURE ...... 40 2019 – A Banner Year for Longleaf ...... 10 Longleaf Destinations ...... 44 The Alliance Teaches its 100th Longleaf Academy: PEOPLE ...... 47 A Look Back...... 14 SUPPORT THE ALLIANCE ...... 50 RESEARCH NOTES ...... 18 Heartpine ...... 56

PUBLISHER The Longleaf Alliance, E D I T O R Carol Denhof, ASSISTANT EDITOR Margaret Platt, DESIGN Bellhouse Publishing ADVERTISING Carol Denhof 678.595.6405 – [email protected] COVER Sun shines through smoke during a sandhill restoration prescribed burn at Townsend Wildlife Management Area in Long County, Georgia. Photo by Randy Tate.

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 The Longleaf Alliance, Address12130 Dixon Center Road, Andalusia, Alabama 36420. Periodicals Postage Paid at Montgomery, Alabama. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or disability. (Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs.) To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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president’s message CAROL DENHOF

irst, let me say thank you to all that ultimately increasing longleaf forest acreage. Their dedication have reached out with encouragement and work in those early days laid the groundwork for the growth and support as I transition from the role of our education and outreach programs under JJ Bachant- of Understory Coordinator to President. Brown and all of the work that LLA’s team is doing today. This I am both humbled and honored to be early focus on restoration of longleaf pine can also be credited taking over the leadership of The Longleaf Alliance on the eve with the formation of the collaborative working partnerships of the organization’s 25th year of working to bring back the that support the America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative. Flongleaf pine to the southeastern landscape. In this Silver Jubilee The original intent of The Longleaf Alliance continues today. year, we will be taking the time to pause and reflect on not only We have grown in size, the faces have changed, and our initial the accomplishments of The Longleaf Alliance but also the programs have evolved to meet ever-changing longleaf incredible strides that the entire longleaf community has made restoration needs. However, as an organization, we remain in efforts to reach our common longleaf restoration goals. So focused on our mission of ensuring the sustainable future of the much has changed since Rhett Johnson and Dean Gjerstad put longleaf ecosystem through partnerships, landowner assistance, their heads together and formed LLA in 1995 in response to both and science-based education and outreach. Education and the urgent need to halt the decline of longleaf pine ecosystems outreach remain as the cornerstone of our programs, and we and the growing demand for information on how to restore these continue to be the hub of the longleaf partnership wheel that forests. Despite the dominance of the other southern yellow includes state and federal agencies, research institutions, natural pines in the southeastern US, there was an increasing number resource professionals, NGOs, universities, and private of landowners and managers who were beginning to see the landowners. Looking back at this past year, we made an impact appeal of longleaf – superior wood products, wildlife value, and in the areas of outreach, habitat improvement, rare species the diversity of the ecosystem. They just needed the right guides restoration, longleaf restoration, and land protection. Through to help them through the process of successfully establishing our programs, LLA reached nearly 250,000 people using a and managing the species. Mark Hainds joined the team in variety of outreach tools, provided 576 technical assists, assisted 1995 as a Research Associate working through Auburn with burning on over 600,000 acres, restored rare species in University. Mark was instrumental in developing tried & true South Carolina and Florida, and working with our partners techniques for site preparation and planting that truly changed protected over 15,000 acres along the Savannah River. It was a the game for longleaf establishment. A few years later, John great year, and 2020 is going to be even better. Using our McGuire completed the team as the first Outreach Coordinator. mission as a guide, I’m excited to be steering the ship forward Together, this small (but mighty!) group worked extensively into this celebration year and shaping the organization to endure with partners and traveled the region meeting landowners with and thrive for the next 25 years and more! the goal of improving people’s perception of longleaf and

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Longleaf Alliance Staff Board of Directors Carol Denhof Vernon Compton Jessica Sandoval President GCPEP Director Biological Technician Marc Walley – [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Chairman Ad Platt Bobby Franklin Brian Schumann Reese Thompson – Vice President of Operations SoLoACE Partnership Coordinator Ecosystem Support Senior Team Member Vice Chairman [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Rufus Duncan – Anne Rilling Lucas Furman Kaiden Spurlock Secretary/Treasurer Vice President of Business GIS Support Specialist Ecosystem Support Team Supervisor [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Barclay McFadden – Past Chairman Charlie Abeles Kelsea Heider Randy Tate Wildlife Biologist Wetland Ecosystem Support Team Ft. Stewart/Altamaha Longleaf Lynda Guerry Beam [email protected] Member Restoration Partnership Coordinator [email protected] [email protected] Robbie Fisher Robert Abernethy Director of Special Projects Lisa Lord Ben Tuttle Patrick Franklin [email protected] South Carolina Field Project Ecosystem Support Team Member Coordinator and Savannah River [email protected] Amanda Haralson Nicholas Barys Watershed Project Director Wetland Ecosystem Support Team [email protected] Donna Vassallo Ken Nichols Leader Ecosystem Support Senior Team Member [email protected] Joseph Mann [email protected] Bill Owen Wetland Ecosystem Support Team Lynnsey Basala Member Casey White Mickey Parker Development Director [email protected] Administrative Assistant [email protected] [email protected] Mac Rhodes Edward O’Daniels Salem Saloom Ryan Bollinger Cogongrass & Tyndall Project Bob Wilken Local Implementation Team Consul Coordinator Fire Specialist Latimore Smith [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] George Tyson Karen Zilliox Brown Alan Patterson Technical Assistance & Training Wetland Ecosystem Support Team Phillip Woods Specialist Member [email protected] [email protected]

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UPCOMING EVENTS 2020 | Calendar

January 14 - 16 May 12 – 14 October 20 – 23 Longleaf Academy: Longleaf 101 Longleaf Academy: Longleaf 101 13th Biennial Longleaf Conference Blue Heron Nature Center Pee Dee Research & Education Hotel Ballast Ridgeland, South Carolina Center Wilmington, North Carolina Florence, South Carolinaa February 11 - 13 Event dates subject to change Longleaf Academy: Fire & Longleaf 201 July 14 – 16 Tall Timbers Research Station Longleaf Academy: Herbicides & before registration opens. For Tallahassee, Florida Longleaf 201 more information, please visit Cumberland County, The Longleaf Alliance website March TBD North Carolina (https://www.longleafalliance.org). Longleaf Academy: Herbicides & Longleaf 201 August 11 – 13 Solon Dixon Forestry Education Longleaf Academy: Herbicides & Center Longleaf 201 Andalusia, Alabama Wesley Center Woodworth, Louisiana

WINTER 2020 MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST

• Site Prep Burns: Sometimes, it is important to conduct a site • Evaluate Young Stands: Evaluate young stands to determine prep burn prior to planting longleaf. Site prep burns can remove one-year survival and ensure adequate stocking using 1/100 or logging slash, lead to better planting jobs, stimulate early 1/50 ac plots. Wait until after the first frost when the grass growth by increasing available nutrients, and decrease hot stage longleaf is more easily seen. spots that may kill young seedlings in subsequent burns. On deep sands or sites with little logging slash, site-prep burns may not be needed; fuel can be saved until the first or second- • Prune Longleaf: In some stands that lack fuels or have a low year burn. stocking rate, mechanical pruning may be an option to avoid the “Old Field” growth form. Winter is the easiest time to prune and should be finished before the spring green-up. Pruning may •Planting Longleaf: To take advantage of the winter not be practical in a large stand. precipitation and maximize survival, planting early is almost always better than late planting. After adequate soil moisture, the next most important factor in good survival is proper • Plant Native Warm Season Grasses: Later winter through planting depth for your site prep treatment. early spring is the recommended time to plant our native understory species. Some plants require a cold-stratification period and need to be planted earlier. • Prescribed Fire: Winter is a prime time to conduct fuel reduction burns in mature or sapling stands. Late December through the end of winter is a good time to introduce fire in young, healthy longleaf • Herbicide Treatments: Basal bark and stem injection stands to help control unwanted wild pine seedlings and other herbicide treatments are typically most effective at controlling competition. Use caution — or wait — when wanting to prescribe unwanted or invasive trees and shrubs during the dormant burn any drought-stressed stands. season.

Give The Longleaf Alliance a call with any questions you may have pertaining to establishing or managing longleaf stands. 334.427.1029

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FROM THE INBOX Q&A

Q. Dear Longleaf Alliance, Still, more factors like the size of your tract, its operability, the contract length — as well as how “hungry” the bidders I’m in the process of planning a timber harvest on my are — also impact bid prices. Then, there is the haul cost property in preparation to plant longleaf pine next year. I’m (the distance to the various markets). All these factors plus confused! I’ve talked to four different companies and have the type of wood, type of harvest, size of the tract to be cut, gotten four different recommendations on harvesting, with location, and demand play a role. Consider also that four different prices. Do timber prices vary that much different operators will leave your tract in different between buyers? conditions, and may make future site preparation more, or less expensive! Sincerely, This is a critical time to have professional forestry Confused guidance! As most of us only get a few chances in life to sell stands of timber, and because the condition of your tract A. Dear Confused, after the sale can impact your management for years to come, we highly recommend hiring a registered forester or Yes, timber prices often vary significantly from one buyer consultant to ensure you receive the best price when to another. If you’re selling an agricultural crop like cotton, marketing your timber. Their expertise will be valuable you can call up several different cotton gins and get pretty throughout the planning, contracting, execution, close to the same price when you deliver to the gin. Not so monitoring, and closeout phases. Consulting foresters with timber! charge a percentage of the value of the timber sale as their Different buyers will quote you different prices, which commission for marketing timber, but their knowledge and is called stumpage price – the amount paid to landowners relationships with existing markets should make you more after the logging cost is deducted. Stumpage will vary in money than they cost you, and likely more than you would part because buyers both estimate and market differently have on your own. They can also guide you to competent the various products that will be harvested from your land. tax advice and be a great resource in all your future Pulpwood-sized trees that are used to make paper, in restoration and management. general, are less valuable than sawtimber trees, which are used to make lumber. Pole quality trees are the most To find a registered forester or consultant, or if you’d like valuable if there is a market within haul range. Trees to learn more about selling timber, visit your state forestry harvested in a thinning operation will usually bring lower commission or association web page or office, your county prices than those harvested in a clearcut; because more care extension agent, or the Association of Consulting Foresters has to be taken in thinning to avoid damaging the at www.acf-foresters.org. remaining trees, and lower quality wood is being removed. Clearcut harvesting should bring higher prices because Sincerely, higher value mature trees are being removed and because The Longleaf Alliance all the trees are being cut, logging costs typically are lower.

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By Carol Denhof, The Longleaf Alliance Understory

IPLANTRIS VERNA L. VAR. VERNA SPOTLIGHTDWARF IRIS IRIS FAMILY – IRIDACEAE

Map showing distribution of dwarf iris. USDA PLANTS Database. Dwarf iris and longleaf pine cones at Hitchcock Woods in Aiken, South Carolina. Photo by Carol Denhof.

Description Wildlife/Medicinal Uses Dwarf iris emerges from the soil in late winter with basal, grass- This species is bee-pollinated and provides a good nectar source like leaves, followed closely by the beautiful purple and early in the growing season. orange-yellow flowers. The leaves of this perennial plant measure 4-18” and shoot up from long rhizomes that grow just under the Plant Availability soil surface. As the name implies, the flowering stem is very short, This plant is readily available through native plant nurseries. It reaching a height of only 2 inches, and each stem holds a single is easy to divide once established in a garden setting. flower. Flowering starts in late March and goes through May.

Distribution & Habitat References Dwarf iris can be found growing in pinelands from Virginia to Sorrie, B.A. 2011. A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region. The University of North Carolina Press. Florida. It will usually be found in drier sites such as longleaf Chapel Hill, NC. 378pp. turkey oak habitat. USDA, NRCS. 2019. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 4 November 2019). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.

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By Lisa Lord, The Longleaf Alliance WILDLIFE SPOTLIGHT Red-cockaded WoodpeckeR (PICOIDES BOREALIS)

Red-cockaded woodpeckers (RCWs) are on their way to as conservation partners became invested in RCW conservation recovery, and in South Carolina, state and private lands play a and found strategies that work, including the Safe Harbor crucial role in getting them Program, which began in 1995 there. With limited federal as a way for the US Fish and lands to harbor RCWs, state Wildlife Service to ease and private lands are essential as regulatory burdens associated support populations by with the Endangered Species increasing connectivity between Act. Landowners are assigned a populations, providing dispersal “baseline,” which is the number corridors, and buffering against of active clusters on their natural disasters. property at the time the RCWs excavate their cavities agreement is signed. They are in living pine trees. They have allowed “incidental take” if the complex social systems, living population expands above the in family groups with one or baseline. more male “helpers” that assist Beyond the Safe Harbor the breeding pair by brooding, Program, another valuable tool cleaning waste from the cavity, for increasing the size of small and feeding the young that the populations or isolated groups is breeding pair produces. RCWs translocation. In 2016, The also provide benefits to other Longleaf Alliance began cavity-dependent species by working with federal, state, and creating habitat. private partners in South Red-cockaded woodpeckers Carolina to translocate RCWs once had an estimated historic from the Francis Marion population of over 1 million National Forest to state and groups, but when they were Captured RCW for translocation. private lands with suitable federally listed (when the Photo by Lisa Lord. habitat enrolled in Safe Harbor. Endangered Species Act passed Ralph Costa serves as a in 1973), fewer than 10,000 consultant and the project individual birds remained. Before restoration got underway in leader. Biologist Larry Wood monitors the RCW population the 1980s, RCW populations were steeply declining. The on the Forest and identifies the birds to be translocated each bright side is that this has reversed course over recent decades year. Each fall, RCW biologists from several states gather to

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assist with these translocations. Through 2019, 72 RCWs were References translocated to thirteen different properties as part of this Bonnie, R. 1997. Safe harbor for the red-cockaded woodpecker. program. The number of birds retained and breeding, in Journal of Forestry (95): 17-22 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2003. Recovery plan for the general, has been above the range-wide average. One of the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis): second recipient properties and success stories is Hitchcock Woods in revision. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA. 296 Aiken, South Carolina, which had no RCWs in 2015 and now pp. has 8 active clusters with 28-30 RCWs on-site.

Completed artificial RCW insert with paint. Photo by Mark Pavlovsky.

Partnership team gathered for Fall 2019 RCW translocation. Photo by Lisa Lord.

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Gopher tortoise eggs that were collected and used to headstart gopher tortoises for restoration. Photo by Lisa Lord.

2019 A Banner Year for Longleaf

The Longleaf Alliance made significant strides to achieve around the United States, teaching the public about the our mission of ensuring the sustainable future of longleaf pine benefits of “Good Fires” can have a significant impact on the ecosystems in 2019. From Academies to gopher tortoises to landscapes around us. prescribed fire, all of our programs fit within the framework To help spread the word about Good Fires, the prescribed we have set to achieve our key strategic longleaf objectives. We fire community now has an Ambassador in the form of a would like to share some of the key successes that LLA has Bobwhite Quail named Burner Bob®. Created by Georgia accomplished over the past year. private landowner Reese Thompson, Burner Bob devotes his days explaining to people that the longleaf forest, with its many GROWING — We raise awareness, increase engagement, plants and animals, has evolved by being burned regularly. The and grow a love for longleaf across the range. forests need fire to survive. He goes about the land, telling the Burner Bob® story, and showing people how to control burn safely. He is a ® The need for extensive prescribed fire outreach and education “Cool Dude with a Hot Message .” for the general public has become increasingly important as The Longleaf Alliance manages the Burner Bob outreach more people are living and working in the wildland/urban activities. They include appearances at public prescribed fire- ® interface. In the face of wildfires that continue to threaten areas related events, a Burner Bob Facebook page, website resources

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Burner Bob® at the screening of “Secrets of the Partners from the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA), the WEST, the Longleaf Pine” in Brunswick, GA. Photo by EST, and Virginia Tech who worked together to make significant progress Amy Schuler. in the wetland pictured on Eglin Air Force Base. Photo by Kelly Jones.

via The Alliance page (www.longleafalliance.org), coloring books and a dozen more ecological attributes. The initial results are for school-aged children, and online videos. Since 2017, a total extremely encouraging, though not quite ready to publish. of 22,000 coloring books have been printed and distributed to Data collection, ground-truthing of the spatial model, and children across the southeastern US. Facebook and YouTube analysis will take place in all the LITs over the next three years provide a platform for reaching a tremendous number of people and, after post-processing, will yield an interactive longleaf as well. Since January 2019, Burner Bob® has made a total of occurrence web map for managers to use and explore. seven appearances at festivals that have a focus on wise use of prescribed fire. IMPROVING FOREST HEALTH – Through active stewardship we improve the condition of longleaf ecosystems UNDERSTANDING — We collect and share technical across the range. information about longleaf through science-based education, South Carolina Rare Species Projects outreach, and technical assistance through methods best for The Longleaf Alliance (LLA) continued initiatives focused each audience. on the recovery of federal and state endangered wildlife species, The Southeastern LEO Geodatabase Project including the red-cockaded woodpecker, gopher tortoise, and The Southeastern Longleaf Ecosystem Occurrence Carolina gopher frog. Grants from the National Fish and Geodatabase Project (LEO) is underway with field data Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), International Paper, American collectors deployed in the DeSoto-Camp Shelby and Gulf Forests, and the USFWS Coastal Program provided the funding Coastal Plain LITs, and soon the Chattahoochee Fall Line. The to restore these endangered species. In the fall of 2019, partners project aims to produce a comprehensive, ground-truthed map in SC gathered again to translocate 21 RCWs from the Francis of the longleaf pine ecosystem across its range, focusing first Marion National Forest to state and private lands with suitable on the areas within the Longleaf Implementation Teams (LITs). habitat in South Carolina to restore their RCW populations. Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) and The Longleaf Altogether since 2017, 72 RCWs have been translocated as part Alliance are working in close coordination to deliver a relevant, of this state and private lands recovery initiative. Also, 20 birds valuable tool for conservation planning and tracking progress from the Apalachicola National Forest in Florida were toward range-wide goals. For this process, FNAI produces a translocated last fall to state and federal lands across the survey map of the LIT area, and The Longleaf Alliance then southeast to restore their RCW populations. LLA continues to finds the appropriate solution for each LIT for conducting data support RCW restoration on the Conecuh National Forest, collection with a blend of partner participation and contractors. Blackwater River State Forest, and the Desoto National Field data collectors are trained on how to conduct a Forest. standardized rapid assessment of the survey points that inform We also focus on the wildlife species a little closer to the us on longleaf dominance, pyrogenic understory characteristics, ground. As part of a partnership with the University of Georgia

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Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL), we have been head- the GCPEP landscape, several LLA teams are helping, starting gopher tortoises since 2017. This fall, 52 more including the EST (Ecosystem Support Team), WEST (Wetland one-year-old tortoises were released, continuing to put two Ecosystem Support Team), and the AMBBIS (reticulated populations on the road to recovery. LLA also initiated another flatwoods salamander) team. Due to the excellent collaboration project with SREL this year to support gopher frog recovery by among the land managers, teams, and other partners, surveying private lands for gopher frogs and assisting outstanding progress was made over the past year, particularly landowners with improving the habitat for this species on their with recovery efforts associated with the endangered reticulated land. flatwoods salamander. Restoration efforts center on both mechanical treatments and Restoration of Isolated Wetlands in the GCPEP prescribed fire. Chainsaws are used to clear unwanted and Landscape overly dense trees from ponds, which are hauled to an upland area with an emphasis on minimizing impact to the grasses found throughout the ecotone. Trees and debris removed from the ponds are piled strategically to encourage desired fire behavior around the wetlands. Any cut stumps are treated with herbicides after tree removal to prevent resprouting and new growth. Over the past year, teams completed work in 10 ponds and began or continued work on several additional ponds. The teams also assisted with 14,458 acres of prescribed fire, targeting the wetlands being restored. In addition, the AMBBIS initiated a reticulated flatwoods salamander captive rearing program and successfully released 246 salamanders into wetlands on Escribano Point Wildlife Management Area. Partner emphasis on both habitat restoration and collaboration is leading to increased hope for the recovery of the reticulated flatwoods salamander.

DIVERSE FORESTS CONSERVED — We work with landowners to ensure the future of longleaf through conservation of high quality, diverse longleaf forests across generations. Land Protection Advances Because of the significant relationship between forests and water, LLA is a lead partner in the Savannah River Clean Water Fund (SRCWF), which supports the protection of water quality Oxbow lake on Big Snooks property in in the Lower Savannah River Basin. The Savannah River South Carolina. Photo by Josh Bell. watershed provides drinking water to more than 1.5 million people in two states and was formed in 2014 to help facilitate a holistic approach to land protection in the 2.79 million-acre watershed. In 2019, two private properties, Groton Plantation and Big Snooks, totaling 14,165 acres, were the first conservation Wetlands of the southeastern coastal plains were historically easements to receive funding through the SRCWF due to their influenced by recurring fires that would have maintained these drinking water utility partners, Beaufort-Jasper Water and habitats as early successional vegetative communities Sewer Authority, and the City of Savannah. The transactions dominated by a dense herbaceous layer. Fire suppression has were made possible through the leadership of The Nature resulted in wetlands that are now dominated instead by a Conservancy and Lowcountry Land Trust and local and national woody over-story that prevents the use of these habitats by funding partners, including the South Carolina Conservation many of the rare and declining species that depend on them. Bank, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through Unfortunately, fire-dependent wetland communities are Walmart’s ‘Acres for America’ Program, and The Longleaf especially difficult to treat with prescribed fire, and land Alliance. The conservation easements will ensure that the managers often lack the resources required to apply fire in these forests on the properties are never converted to uses detracting challenging habitats effectively. To assist partners with from water quality. addressing the challenges with restoring isolated wetlands in

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At 13, 868 acres, Groton Plantation is the largest private conservation easement in South Carolina. The property buffers the already protected floodplain forest for 10 miles, and the upland longleaf pine forests have some of the highest quality wildlife habitats in the state and harbor a population of RCWs. The 297-acre Big Snooks tract has mature bottomland hardwood forests, a natural oxbow lake, and longleaf pine, which provides habitat for gopher tortoises that live there. The property is positioned between two publicly owned lands, further enhancing its environmental benefits.

ECOSYSTEMS RESTORED — Through advocacy, policies, assistance, partners, and our own management actions. we facilitate the expansion of longleaf ecosystems across the range.

Longleaf Pine Planting Projects The goal of reaching 8 million acres of longleaf pine by 2025 remains a priority for America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative. The Longleaf Alliance, working in collaboration with restoration partners, planted 1.8 million seedlings in fiscal year 2019. Planting projects were completed on both private and public land, and funding was provided by Arbor Day Foundation, American Forests, National Forest Foundation, USFWS Partners Program, National Fish & Wildlife Planted longleaf pine seedling. Foundation, and National Wild Turkey Federation. We also Photo by Carol Denhof. continued our tree planting program with Appalachian Mountain Brewing and initiated a new program with Georgia- Pacific’s Aria® brand. These tree-planting projects will grow in 2020, and plans are shaping up to plant over 3 million seedlings across the southeast.

Expanding longleaf restoration across the range to get to” parts of the range. We aim to respond to all requests, The longleaf ecosystem restoration effort is generally wherever there is interest in restoring longleaf. As this issue regarded as the largest native ecosystem restoration effort goes to press, we are heading to Wakefield, Virginia to finally underway in the country. It is powered by a tremendous bring the Academy program to the state. The VA LL 101 is partnership effort, guided by a 33-member Longleaf not just the long-awaited first in the state, but is expected to Partnership Council, and making progress across a nine-state be the largest class yet, and is #101 overall. This large number range. The foundation of this effort is the sharing of knowledge, of attendees is indicative of the great interest and energized understanding, and best approaches for success in managing partners bringing longleaf back in Virginia, and the format will across a variety of community types and a vast geographic range be expanded to a full three days to enable multiple field trips of over 1,200 miles. Since the founding of The Alliance in to see the progress. 1995, outreach and technical assistance have remained the left To reach a variety of different audiences, Ad Platt spent a and right hands of The Alliance. Like the helping hands shown fun and productive week with the Texas LIT in meetings, site on our logo, their importance only increases as more landowners visits, and three all-day Field Workshops back-to-back; one for join in this effort and as our progress continues to grow. REITs/TIMOs and Texas Forest Service Staff, one for Agency Workshops and field days help attract new and beginning partners and landowners, and one for Consulting Foresters and landowners. Attending a Longleaf Academy program remains landowners. the most significant predictor of success. And technical assists Increasingly, college students, as well as new agency or continue every day by a variety of methods from phone, email, company staff, attend Academies, and that can only be good website, or best of all, in person. Assists, Academies, and for the future. Our current staff lives across much of the Workshops are continually occurring, including in those “hard longleaf range, and we aim to cover it all.

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The alliaNce Teaches iTs 100Th loNgleaf academy: a look Back By Karen Z. Brown, The Longleaf Alliance

Ad Platt instructing Longleaf 101 students in the field at Blackwater River State Forest, FL. Photo by Karen Brown.

This past October, The Longleaf Alliance celebrated its right information, so Rhett, Dean, and Mark decided they had 100th Longleaf Academy. The Academies were born from The to take their expertise on the road. Alliance’s core commitment to outreach and education that has This was the basis for the Longleaf Academy, and at that been part of our mission since our beginnings. At that time, time, they were 1-day events. Reception to the longleaf longleaf was still treated like a novelty, though the movement message was sometimes a mixed bag, occasionally hostile, was building to restore the ecosystem that once blanketed 90 depending on a landowner’s successes or, more often, failures million acres of the southeast. up to that point. The Alliance crisscrossed rural Georgia and The Longleaf Alliance’s founders, Rhett Johnson and Dean Alabama, presenting at a grueling pace of back-to-back (to Gjerstad, steered the early research on longleaf establishment; back) workshops for months on end. (In fact, if we counted all not much was known prior to that, and what managers were these single-day Academies, we would have surpassed the 100- acting on was misguided. Mark Hainds was hired as the mark long ago.) Alliance’s first employee, Research Coordinator, a joint position Still, they felt like there was never enough time to address with Auburn University. Mark was tasked with identifying all that they should. And they were learning more all the time the obstacles longleaf managers and producers were facing and about longleaf as their networks grew. In fact, some of what to figure out the answers. He wanted to troubleshoot the we now understand came from managers that we have met planting failures he was seeing and hearing about at this time. along the way. But there were always more topics they felt It’s Mark’s work on proper planting depths for longleaf needed to be included. And the demand was growing. How seedlings that we still teach today in Longleaf 101. Before that, could we address the need? containerized longleaf was being planted like bareroot And so, the 3-day Academy format was developed. Rhett, seedlings, or planted like loblolly. Total failures were Dean and Mark, and later John McGuire, began presenting this disheartening, but not uncommon. People just didn’t have the longer format exclusively at the Solon Dixon Center in

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1. 2.

3. 4.

1. The 100th Academy was held in Gainesville, FL at the Austin Cary-Stern Learning Center in October 2019. Photo by Ryan Mitchell. 2. A landowner works on his burn plan with the help of his classmates during Fire & Longleaf. Photo by Randy Tate. 3. Mark Hainds discussing seedling quality characteristics with Longleaf 101 students. Photo by LLA. 4. Ryan Mitchell instructs during Longleaf 101. Photo by Karen Brown.

Andalusia, Alabama, where The Longleaf Alliance is based. first presented in 2015, and Groundcover Restoration was After some time, the model had to change again to respond to developed and first offered in 2018. At each turn, we listened the needs. Many state and federal agencies were tightening to our supporters and partners to rise and meet the need for budgets for training and travel, making it impossible to come knowledge on all aspects of longleaf restoration. to us for a Longleaf Academy. We’ve taken the program on the road more than ever before So, once again, it became clear that the Academies had to go in the last several years, up to 11 Academies each year. That back on the road. JJ Bachant-Brown’s role as Outreach wouldn’t be possible without the sustaining sponsorship from Coordinator grew as she was tasked with scouting suitable all our LIT partners and other benefactors, allowing us to bring locations for meeting space and field tours and building much Academies to the places that want and need it most. And of the course framework that we follow today. allowing us to keep learning from you, too. The Understory Diversity Academy was introduced during this The Academy program continues to evolve around changing period and held for the first time at the Jones Ecological needs and changing times to address the challenges managers Research Center in 2011. Herbicides & Longleaf was unveiled are facing and to deliver the material where and how it’s needed. next, with Mark Hainds’ thousands of trials on chemical rates, At its core, however, we strive to stay true to the principles that applications, timings, and results providing the basis for that the founders of The Alliance set back in 1995. As Rhett has curriculum. We developed a Gopher Tortoise Academy in response said, “We always wanted to be honest brokers of information. to a specific partner request in Mississippi. Fire & Longleaf was We weren’t going to be salesmen. If you choose to plant

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4. 5. 6.

4. Rhett Johnson instructing at the Solon Dixon Center in 2018. Photo by Karen Brown. 5. Rhett Johnson teaching in the field during an early Longleaf 101 at Fort Stewart. Photo by LLA. 6. Mark Hainds instructing on understory species during an early Longleaf 101. Photo by LLA.

longleaf, we’ll help you be successful. And it didn’t matter if you have 10 acres or 10,000. Those 10 acres are the most courses offered Through the longleaf academy program: important acres in the world to you. We wouldn’t turn down anyone for assistance that asked for it. It may have been a bad Longleaf 101 business model. But it’s a good human model. It’s one of the Understory Diversity 201 reasons we stayed tired all the time, but it was the right thing to do.” Herbicides & Longleaf 201 To date, we have trained 2,600 students in all nine states of Fire & Longleaf 201 the longleaf range. In November of 2019, the 101st Academy, Gopher Tortoise 301 Longleaf 101, was held for the first time in Virginia. Groundcover Restoration 201

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RESEARCH NOTES By Carol Denhof, The Longleaf Alliance & Ryan Mitchell, Alabama Cooperative Extension System

Containerized montane longleaf pine planted on the Antelope SPA in February 2017. Photo by Ryan Mitchell. LONGLEAF RESTORATION THROUGH STEWARDSHIP

In September 2014, The USDA, Forest Service, National • Provide habitats to support desirable levels of selected Forests in Alabama (Forest Service), and The Longleaf Alliance species (e.g. species with special habitat needs such as large, (LLA) executed a Stewardship Supplemental Project Agreement continuous forested landscaped, species commonly (Antelope SPA). Stewardship contracting utilizes natural trapped/hunted, or species of special interest). resource management practices to shift the focus of federal The overall goal of the Antelope SPA was to move stands forest and rangeland management towards a desired future located on the Oakmulgee Ranger District of the Talladega resource condition. They also enable federal agencies to better National Forest towards a desired future condition (DFC) of an contribute to the development of sustainable rural upland longleaf pine woodland with interspersed longleaf communities, restore and maintain healthy forest ecosystems, savannas. At the time of execution, many of the stands within and promote a closer working relationship with local the Antelope SPA were understocked with longleaf and communities by providing a continuing source of local income overstocked with off-site loblolly, hardwoods, and some and employment. shortleaf. LLA utilized multiple treatments to help move the The National Forests in Alabama developed the Revised Antelope SPA towards the DFC. Specific objectives used to Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) that reach the restoration goal include: (1) Harvest all off-site pine provides broad program-level direction for management on and hardwoods and restore longleaf pines on 93 acres of the National Forest lands. agreement area; (2) Enhance existing longleaf woodlands by The following Forest Plan goals are aligned with the thinning to reduce basal area on 1187 acres; and (3) Improve objectives set for the Antelope SPA: Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) recruitment by the • To manage forest and woodland ecosystems to restore installation of artificial cavities. and/or maintain native communities to provide the desired composition, structure, and function. Emphasis in this TREATMENTS planning area will be to restore and maintain upland longleaf Longleaf Restoration pine forest and woodland communities. This includes restoring LLA contracted with Scotch & Gulf Lumber to harvest 93 fire regimes within or near the historical range and managing acres of off-site pine and hardwoods, while retaining the forest communities to reduce the risks from insects and disease. scattered natural longleaf on those same acres. In September • Contribute to the recovery of federally listed threatened 2016, a skidder was contracted to apply a chemical site-prep and endangered species and provide for the conservation of to the unit. This deviation from the normal FOREST SERVICE sensitive species as to minimize the need for additional listings practice of utilizing hand crews insured a uniform application under the Endangered Species Act.

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a. Photopoint images over a three-year period from 2016-2018 showing the improvement of habitat condition in treated stand. Photos by Carol Denhof.

b c

Longleaf pine seedlings planted around residual longleaf in the clearcut with reserves. Photo by Ryan Mitchell.

of the herbicide. A total of 62,400 containerized montane total to 1187 acres. Chemical herbicide treatments of the longleaf seedlings were planted in February 2017, on a 6x11 Longleaf Woodland Enhancement units were applied in spacing. September 2017 by two skidders. The sub-contractor treating the Longleaf Woodland Enhancement units treated 831 of Longleaf Woodland Enhancement 1178 contracted acres. In early 2018, Forest Service personnel Scotch & Gulf Lumber conducted a thinning operation on conducted a prescribed burn on all longleaf enhancement units the remaining units favoring longleaf pine over hardwood and to finish out the work. loblolly pine. The harvest reduced the stocking levels to 40 – 60 square feet of basal area per acre with no less than 70 percent Red-cockaded Woodpecker Recruitment of the stand in longleaf pine. Timber Harvest was accepted as The Forest Service modified the agreement to allow LLA to complete by the Forest Service in June 2017. continue work to improve RCW recruitment by LLA and Forest Service personnel assessed the enhancement supplementing nest cavities for active cluster sites and units and determined a need for a herbicide treatment, followed recruitment areas. LLA worked with Joel Casto with Casto by prescribed fire to target the hardwood encroachment and Environmental Services LLC, who installed 80 artificial cavities ensure a more open, predominantly longleaf pine stand is in July 2018. All artificial cavities were installed to Forest maintained into the future. Service specifications in trees designated by Forest Service In August 2017, The SPA was modified to include an personnel. additional 789 acres to the enhancement units ; bringing the

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Groundcover Monitoring The increase in light availability in the understory layer, as Beginning in 2015, LLA staff conducted quantitative annual well as the removal of woody vine and shrub competition, has ground vegetation assessments to monitor midstory and produced a positive change in vegetative structure in the groundcover responses to the management treatments in hopes Longleaf Woodland Enhancement Units. This is especially this information will help determine future treatments in the evident in the clearcut sites. With increased cover of herbaceous stands. Photo points were also taken at each monitoring plot species in the understory, managers will have a more consistent to record qualitative changes in the stands over time. fuel layer to utilize in future prescribed burns.

RESULTS RCW Recruitment Tree Survival The new artificial cavities were installed within existing One pest that plagues most longleaf restoration sites on the clusters. Adding cavities in these areas freed up Forest Service Oakmulgee is volunteer loblolly. In May 2018, Forest Service personnel to set up new recruitment clusters with 2-4 cavities staff conducted one-year survival checks and assessed the plot each in other areas. Eight of the new active clusters are in the composition. These checks revealed the longleaf restoration chemical spraying footprint that was done under Antelope SPA, units had 738 and 708 surviving longleaf seedlings per acre, and three are resulting from the Antelope SPA thinning and respectively. Those same plots averaged 125 loblolly seedlings spraying combo. The thin/spray/burn combination treatment per acre; 10 times lower than average for all other one-year has created habitat conditions that are ideal for recruitment. longleaf survival checks conducted on Stewardship projects on forest Service anticipates that several more clusters will go the Oakmulgee Ranger District. active as this year’s crop of young birds attempt to start their own clusters in the restored areas. The Oakmulgee Ranger Groundcover Monitoring District currently manages a total of 177 clusters, with 133 of Beginning in 2016, LLA staff conducted annual ground those being active. In 2019, 112 or 84% of the active clusters vegetation assessments to monitor midstory and groundcover nested where typical rates average around 75%. responses to the management treatments used in the Longleaf Woodland Enhancement units. The data collected mirrors the SUMMARY & MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS visual plant structural changes that have been seen on the Utilizing public and private partnerships allows the Forest ground through the photo points. The significant changes in Service to advance restoration towards the DFC at a faster rate structure are due to the combination of mechanical, chemical, than would be possible alone. Utilizing a Clearcut with and fire management techniques that have been implemented Reserves method to remove off-site loblolly and hardwoods and in the stands. replanting longleaf begins the restoration process. Thinning Prior to treatments, the understory and midstory layers were units, favoring longleaf, to a basal area that is acceptable to the dominated by woody tree and shrub species. Post thinning, needs of RCWs, and applying herbicides to accelerate the open chemical treatments were used to reduce the number of woody pine forest helps the Forest Service reach the DFC. These same species in the midstory and understory. The data show that the units now provide exceptional multiple-use, tear-round areas chemical treatments were successful in meeting this objective. for the public. The Forest Service will maintain all of the Especially impacted by the chemical treatment were woody habitat with prescribed fire on a 2-4-year fire return interval. vines such as Vitis rotundifolia. This is also evidenced by the The longleaf pine woodland restoration work conducted increase in the amount of standing dead woody plants in the through the Antelope SPA directly lead to the restoration of shrub layer. 93 new acres of longleaf pine and 831 acres of improved In terms of herbaceous species composition in the understory, longleaf habitat. The additional work of 80 artificial cavities the clearcut units showed a significant increase in both will complement the forest structure manipulation to increase graminoid (grass) and forb species after the treatment. habitat for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker within the Graminoid species especially increased after chemical treatment Oakmulgee Ranger District. Stewardship projects such as the in 2017, whereas forbs reacted positively to clearcutting. The Antelope SPA demonstrate how partnerships can restore units that were thinned also showed an increase in graminoids, longleaf woodlands efficiently and successfully. but not nearly as dramatic as the clearcut sites. Bracken ferns, disturbance thriving plants, were not accounted for in the pre- thinning sampling but showed up in the majority of plots post thinning.

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LANDOWNER CORNER Casey Cox and her father Glenn Cox on their Longleaf Ridge property. Photo courtesy of Longleaf Ridge Farms.

By Casey Cox LANDOWNER SPOTLIGHT LONGLEAF RIDGE

Almost 160 years ago, my ancestors settled in the pine University of Florida. Not too long after moving away I gained woods of southwest Georgia along the Flint River. We are a new appreciation and perspective of my home here in Georgia. fortunate to call this land home today, and I am now the sixth I eventually decided to move back to the farm after college, generation of my family to farm here in Mitchell County. which I consider to be the best decision I have ever made. We produce sweet corn, peanuts, field corn, soybeans, and I had the opportunity to take a job with our local timber. Our farm’s name, Longleaf Ridge, derives from the conservation district, the Flint River Soil and Water naturally regenerated longleaf pines that grow along the river. Conservation District, following graduation. My ultimate goal Approximately 60% of our land is in timber, both natural was to take over management of the farm, but my parents and and planted. It has been a critical resource during some of our I agreed that taking an “off-farm” job first would be a beneficial toughest years. Our approach to timber management is learning experience. I was very fortunate to wind up in an ideal unconventional. The benefits of growing trees, in addition to position where I could work in conservation and agriculture, crops, are worth the long-term investment. We manage our learning from farmers and partners across the Southeast. After forestland for both economic and ecological value. serving as Executive Director for five and a half years, I stepped In our natural stands, we manage with the primary goals of down in 2019 to focus on transitioning to the farm full-time. restoration, regeneration, and conservation. Our remaining My experiences with the District were invaluable to my timber is planted in loblolly or slash pine, which we manage growth as a young professional and as a landowner. The with a focus on economic productivity. We optimize habitat partnerships we built during my tenure opened my eyes to for wildlife across the woods, sharing our farm with a diverse innovation and introduced me to the many agencies that serve array of species including gopher tortoises, wild turkeys, farmers and landowners. bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer, and more snakes than I like One of our core partners at the local, state, and national level to acknowledge. was the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service My parents instilled a love for the land in me from birth, (NRCS). We have implemented practices on our farm with along with a shared priority of stewardship. Though I did not support from NRCS in the past, but it was in my role with the initially plan to move back to southwest Georgia after college, District that I gained a better understanding of their assistance I chose Natural Resource Conservation as my major at the for producers. We had the opportunity to work alongside our

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LANDOWNERS CORNER

Gopher tortoise on Longleaf Ridge. Photo by Casey Cox. Prescribed fire is used to manage the timber lands on Longleaf Ridge. Photo by Casey Cox.

Young longleaf pine. Photo passed, we were finally able to apply for two by Casey Cox. USDA programs to help us with recovery efforts: the Emergency Forest Restoration NRCS colleagues on Program (EFRP) through the Farm Service multiple occasions and Agency and the Environmental Quality support Farm Bill program Incentives Program (EQIP) through NRCS. implementation. Some of With this financial assistance, we can begin the our work focused on forest restoration process on our land. providing direct technical We are grateful for what did not happen that assistance to landowners day and for what we did not lose. However, it was throughout the District, which is painful to evaluate the destruction, especially in our comprised of nine counties in southwest timber. We lost many beautiful, mature longleaf pines that Georgia. Other aspects of our work included were 50-60 years old, and we are at risk of losing more from leading pilot projects and large-scale programs to accelerate disease and stress. To add insult to injury, we practically gave widespread implementation of best management practices, away some of the fallen trees to clean up the woods. Though much of which was funded and supported by NRCS. This work we experienced economic loss from this storm, it was the was not confined to our District counties — many of our destruction of these trees that packed the greatest punch. We projects scaled across Georgia and even crossed state lines into will begin restoration efforts as soon as possible, acknowledging southeastern Alabama and north Florida. Our partnership with that this loss was generational. NRCS enabled us to support hundreds of farmers and Despite this catastrophic event, we continue to rebuild and landowners in the tri-state area with conservation practices that restore. I admire the land and forest around us that withstood span hundreds of thousands of acres. one of the most devastating natural disasters across multiple I also gained a new appreciation for USDA after experiencing generations. The forest’s response to such a significant one of the most life-changing natural disasters of our family’s “disturbance,” to put it mildly, is a showcase of the strength lives. Hurricane Michael barreled through the Florida and resiliency of nature. Panhandle into southwest Georgia on October 10, 2018, still I would not have the opportunities I have today if it were a Category 3 as it traversed our farm. We learned later that we not for the stewardship ethic of the five generations before me. had endured about six hours of sustained winds of Managing forests, especially longleaf pine forests, requires a approximately 100 mph and gusts of up to 160 mph in our vision for the future. Longleaf pines, like the Flint River, area. We woke up the next morning to witness chaos and connect us with our heritage and the land that has sustained devastation across our community. We were very fortunate to our family for generations. As the world continues to evolve be safe and for our homes to be spared, but the damage across and change, we manage our longleaf for future generations to our farm and the landscape was unfathomable. Though still in have a window into the timeless beauty and resilience of a life- the process of recovery, we are finally moving forward. Though giving landscape. disaster relief spent eight months in Congress before being

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TECHNOLOGY CORNER

FROM FACEBOOK FEED TO LONGLEAF RESTORATION By Brittany Wegner, Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute and Kent Evans, Texas Longleaf Implementation Team

The Texas team (TLIT) has used several outreach methods over the past six years to connect landowners to technical assistance and funding for longleaf restoration. One challenge has been finding absentee owners that had no previous connection to state or federal natural resource agencies. Knowing that Facebook (FB) Launching could be a useful tool and that we had some funding provided this campaign, even with by one of our partner organizations, we approached specialists limited resources, yielded an awareness and within Texas A&M Natural Resource Institute (NRI) for momentum that was unrivaled through our previous efforts. Our assistance in designing a Facebook campaign to help with a new TLIT was empowered to assess the efficacy of new digital outreach effort. outreach methods, and to compare the real return on investment, Brittany was the key contact and technology person with developing a model of resources to restoration. The campaign NRI, experienced in business marketing using social media. She garnered over 80 previously unengaged, well-vetted leads of understood Facebook and how to develop a targeted message landowners requesting assistance in resource management. focused on specific geography of interest using the FB As we analyzed the data during the campaign, we algorithms. A TLIT working group helped her shape a FB acknowledged that not all connections led to more acres restored. longleaf message feed so that each response could be filtered Still, we could not understate the potential of the 625 down to those qualified or “vetted” for our attention. interactions between our team, specialists, and landowners. We launched the campaign and let it run for about five Personal contact by a resource professional is time-consuming, months. The Facebook feeds hit 96,000 targeted residents of east but we saw hard work rewarded. One example was connecting Texas who showed indications of interest in land management to a hard-to-reach, tugboat captain pushing barges in the assistance and longleaf restoration. The landowners who were Intercoastal Canal along the Texas coast. His response to our FB curious about the opportunity to connect with teams of natural feed led us to an on-site visit by the TLIT. Within three months, resource specialists for cost-share and technical information, and he and his wife attended one of our longleaf workshops, signed after a series of brief questions, voluntarily submitted their an NRCS EQIP contract, and directed his forestry consultant to contact and land information through the online form we begin the process of longleaf restoration on their land. Contact created. Brittany monitored the FB responses and provided the Brittany ([email protected] ) to assist your social TLIT with each submission so appropriate agency staff could media outreach. make a personal contact of these vetted landowners.

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By Tiffany Woods, Partnership Chair, The National Wildlife Federation News from the longleaf partnership council

Dear Fellow Longleaf Friends, We hope that you are as excited as we are to look back upon As I write this letter, I can’t help but look forward to what the accomplishments of the past ten years while also looking this New Year will bring America’s Longleaf Restoration forward to new opportunities in the coming years. We have come Initiative (ALRI), the Longleaf Partnership Council, and our a long way since 2009, as over 1.2 million acres of new longleaf longleaf community. There is much to celebrate! This is a very has been planted, and over 10 million acres of longleaf burned. exciting time for me personally and professionally—I have But we still have a long way to go. This Initiative set a goal of recently returned to work at the restoring 8 million acres of National Wildlife Federation longleaf by 2025, and we are after giving birth to my looking at new and resourceful firstborn son, Deacon Robert ways to get more acres on the (celebrations galore!). As a first- path to restoration, as plantings time parent, I can attest that I alone will not be enough. am approaching my work in There are exciting times and longleaf pine and wildlife projects ahead; for instance, you habitat restoration with a will see many national forests newfound sense of purpose and working to restore longleaf in drive. I now see a wider and the US Forest Service’s “Million- longer path before me, as I hope Acre Challenge.” Efforts on that I will walk hand-in-hand private lands are still going with my son so that he can one strong, and projects such as a day come to appreciate the work new growth and yield model are of the many landowners, underway to provide us with the organizations, and institutions tools we need to see restoration in this coalition. A southerner through. However, challenges through and through, it remain, as we face losses from encourages me to know that we natural disasters such as are working tirelessly for future Hurricane Michael and generations to enjoy, revel in, Florence, and we still face uphill and carry on our work in a battles with conversion and landscape like none other. multiple other threats. Know Upon this return, I have that I will approach my role as assumed the chair position of chair to acknowledge and the Longleaf Partnership address these opportunities and Council under the mentorship of challenges alongside you. Past-Chair, Gary Burger of It is a new year, and I would South Carolina Department of Tiffany Woods, 2020 Longleaf Partnership Council Chair like to leave you with the phrase Natural Resources, and we have that will be my personal mantra elected our Chair-Elect, Chris this year: “Be grateful for what Erwin of American Forest Foundation. A large focus of this you have, be fearless for what you want.” Whatever your role or leadership team, among many others, will be planning and interest is in this field, I challenge you to look out onto the hosting celebrations for ALRI’s 10-year anniversary this March longleaf landscape and appreciate what is there, and then to in Washington, D.C. The purpose of this event will be to purposely and fervently approach what comes next to ensure its commemorate the many successes that our diverse and unique longevity. There is no time like today. partnership has garnered over the past decade, as well as elevate and share our story as the most successful model for shared My best wishes into the New Year, stewardship in the country. Tiffany

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By Ryan Bollinger, The Longleaf Alliance aNoTheR successful liT summiT / TNc loNgleaf all haNds meeTiNg!

s Alison McGee highlighting partnership successes in landscape scale land protection along the Altamaha River, GA. Photo by Colette DeGarady, TNC.

s Kyle Jones presenting on the US Forest Service’s Shared Stewardship Initiative. Photo by Colette DeGarady, TNC.

Back at the end of August, Longleaf Local Implementation longleaf, Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Team (LIT) leads, the Longleaf Partnership Council leadership and working with industrial landowners, new mapping team, and longleaf partners from across the range came together initiatives and tools, and breakout sessions focused on for a joint LIT Summit / The Nature Conservancy (TNC) prescribed fire, the new Longleaf Partnership Council Longleaf All Hands Meeting to discuss progress and solutions groundcover working group, and potential RCW status for longleaf protection, management, and restoration. The change. Alison McGee led a field trip to the Altama Plantation summit was co-facilitated by Ryan Bollinger (LIT Consul, The WMA highlighting the landscape scale land protection Longleaf Alliance) and Colette DeGarady (Longleaf Pine Whole successes along the Altamaha River over the last 20+ years, and System Director, TNC) and held on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources partners showed off The gathering brought a better awareness of current work a few of the restoration efforts on-site. occurring across the range, increased understanding of priority Thank you to all who participated and contributed to the strategies for America’s Longleaf, and provided a space for meeting outcomes making it the best LIT Summit to date! fellowship and enhanced relationships and communication for Also, a special thank-you to Gretchen Coll, Kelli Flournoy, Pam partners to tackle current challenges for longleaf restoration Crosby, and Alison McGee for supporting event planning and and management. Many topics were discussed including, but running logistics. The energy in the room and conversations not limited to, the power of partnerships, effectively were infectious and inspiring. It’s a pleasure working with such communicating to different audiences and connecting partners, a motivated group striving towards the same goal of restoring US Forest Service (USFS) shared stewardship, economics of longleaf ecosystems across the range.

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The Alabama Natural Resources Council 2019 Conference Field Tour By Tim Albritton, NRCS State Staff Forester, Auburn, Alabama

The 2019 Alabama Landowner Conference partnered with the Chilton Forestry Planning Committee to host a landowner tour. The tour focused on ‘alternative revenue sources from your forestland.’ The first stop was on David Sherer’s property where he and his father have a longleaf pine straw enterprise in south Chilton County. They have developed this agroforestry system of intensively managed working trees to provide additional income from their forest. They are currently raking and baling over 300 bales per acre/per year and have a very good market in the Birmingham area. Mr. Sherer demonstrated his straw rake and baler for the group. The landowners attending had many questions and found the Mr. Sherer riding the tractor between 10’ tour quite interesting. rows of longleaf pine, raking straw into The longleaf plantations were planted by Mr. Sherer, and understory treatments round bales. Photo by Tim Albritton. were made to improve the harvest. A special thanks to David Sherer and his father for hosting the event.

Buffer Lands Protecting NAS-Whiting Field Added to Blackwater River State Forest By Vernon Compton, The Longleaf Alliance and Doug Hattaway, The Trust for Public Land

The Trust for Public Land, partnering with the Navy, Florida Forest Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Santa Rosa County, completed the acquisition of 1,272 acres of the Wolfe Creek Forest Florida Forever project, which will be managed as part of the Blackwater River State Forest. The property includes frontage on Wolfe Creek and Big Coldwater Creek, a state-designated paddling trail, and widely used creek for kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife viewing. The acquisition also furthers the effort of reestablishing longleaf pine in its historic range. The project was funded through the Navy and the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Coldwater Creek through Wolfe Creek Forest. (REPI) Program and the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program Photo by Vernon Compton. administered by the Florida Forest Service. The Trust for Public Land Senior Project Manager Doug Hattaway stated, “This is a great example of collaborative private-public partnerships furthering both base buffering and conservation and recreation goals and filling in gaps of resource management areas.” NAS Whiting Field is the busiest aviation complex in the world, accounting for nearly one million annual flight operations, including primary flight training and advanced helicopter training for more than 1,200 students. NAS Whiting Field Commanding Officer Captain Paul Bowdich indicated the acquisition importance by highlighting, “These additional 1,200 plus acres are located underneath flight track training profiles and are within a military airport influence area. The execution of this project complements our effort to sustain military mission training and preserve the environment in perpetuity.” Florida Forest Service State Forester Jim Karels added, “This land acquisition further aids in prioritizing the protection of Florida’s vital ecological and economic resources. Restoring the natural longleaf pine forest and the use of prescribed fire will greatly improve wildlife habitat, reduce wildlife threats, and aid in water quality.” Santa Rosa County Commissioner Don Salter, a long-time champion of base buffering that protects NAS Whiting Field, stated: “The acquisition will allow the County to continue to preserve some of the most valuable natural resources and further the land buffering around NAS Whiting Field from incompatible development.” Congratulations to the Trust for Public Land, Navy, Florida Forest Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Santa Rosa County for their collaboration and partnership efforts that resulted in success with this important project.

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Ft. Stewart/Altamaha Longleaf Partnership Update By Brannon Knight, The Orianne Society

On November 9 The Orianne Society partnered with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Longleaf Alliance to host a landowner owner appreciation day on Moody Forest Natural Area. This property is jointly owned between the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR) and TNC. This annual event is designed to show our appreciation to the conservation- minded landowner the Orianne Society works with by simply saying, “thank you.” Their collaboration allows us to improve threatened and endangered species habitat on private lands throughout the Fort Stewart/ Altamaha Corridor. They allow us access to their lands for survey work and land management activities such as prescribed burning. The event included a Chuck Martin, TNC Moody Forest Preserve presentation on longleaf pine genetics presented by International Forest Manager, leading a field tour during the Company. It highlighted research that is currently being done to improve Landowner Appreciation Day. Photo by Carol longleaf pine seedling genetics. After the presentation, we ate lunch and then Denhof. took a tour of Moody Forest. The tour highlighted ongoing restoration efforts at Moody, such as the restoration of the old-growth longleaf pine forest and a groundcover demonstration site we planted in 2016. The successful private land cooperator partnership allowed up to burn over 2,500 acres on private land throughout the significant geographic area in 2019. It is our goal to increase this acreage in 2020 to better conserve imperiled species and habitats.

Improving Aquatic Connectivity Along the Chattahoochee Fall Line By Alex Lamle and LuAnn Craighton, The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy has a unique opportunity to improve aquatic connectivity in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin because of the significant amount of land we have under permanent conservation protection in the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) area bordering Fort Benning. For 20+ years, the Conservancy and partners have focused on restoring the longleaf pine ecosystem in this area. Historic management practices in this region have affected both upland forests and sensitive aquatic ecosystems that are heavily impacted by surrounding land-use. Small dams and reservoirs across the landscape fragment aquatic habitat, severely impacting the native fish This failed dam is being removed and the site communities. restored to improve aquatic connectivity in the This dam removal project in the ACUB landscape presents an opportunity Chattahoochee River watershed on Army to restore connectivity and hydrologic function in the Chattahoochee River Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) lands near Fort watershed. All three project dams are breached, contributing significant Benning. Photo by Alex Lamle. amounts of sediment to the system, which negatively impacts habitat downstream. Additionally, the Conservancy is partnering with researchers at Columbus State University to conduct pre- and post- restoration monitoring of water quality and aquatic community response. There is a well-known link between healthy forests and water quantity and quality. Proactive stewardship of the forested uplands surrounding these projects will continue with an emphasis on longleaf ecosystem restoration. This project provides an opportunity to examine how land management plays a role in the health of these complex aquatic systems. This exciting aquatic restoration project is well underway, with completion anticipated in 2020. For more information on aquatic connectivity issues, contact: Sara Gottlieb, Director of Freshwater Science & Strategy, [email protected].

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REGIONAL UPDATES

North Carolina (Onslow Bight, Cape Fear Arch & Sandhills LITs) Update By Hervey McIver, The Nature Conservancy,

Partnerships are the foundation of significant land conservation in the 21st century, and well-grounded conservation plans focus public and private partners towards creating resilient landscapes. In North Carolina, 7,895 acres were protected during 2019 within the longleaf range, adding to a growing network of conservation lands. In the Sandhills, the Army helped buffer training areas through two Nature Conservancy acquisitions totaling 470 acres that include mature and young longleaf pine stands. Within the Coastal Plain, the Marine Corps assisted the protection of over 5,500 acres of land, including Salters Creek Landing. The NC Coastal Land Trust purchased this property near Piney Island bombing range, which contains over 1,200 acres of McLeod property. Photo by Salters Creek Landing longleaf flatwoods and savannas on relic ridges surrounded by Jeff Marcus. property. Photo by Janice forested wetlands and salt marsh. Most of Salters Creek Landing Allen. will become Wildlife Resource Commission Game Lands. Two properties were protected near Croatan National Forest, including the best marl outcrops in the state along Island Creek. Several more tracts elsewhere in the region were also protected. These conservation acquisitions follow our collective vision of expanding, buffering, and connecting important conservation areas. All lands will be managed by state or land trusts with longleaf restoration and controlled burns as goals.

Okefenokee/Osceola Longleaf Implementation Team (O2LIT) Update By Rebecca Shelton, The Nature Conservancy

The O2LIT had a productive year full of prescribed burning, off-site pine thinning and removal, longleaf planting, and landowner outreach. Within the northern portion of the O2LIT, in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the site preparation and fuel reduction of 519 acres were completed along the western portion of the refuge. These areas will be hand planted in the 2020 spring season, with containerized longleaf pine seedlings, putting over 269,000 seedlings in the ground. Additional areas Landowner outreach meeting attendees. Photo by for restoration will be identified as the season progresses. Rebecca Shelton. In the southern portion of the O2LIT, the Osceola National Forest completed the removal and/or thinning of 2,722 acres of pine for the year. The thinned/removed acres total approximately, 21,834 CCF (hundred cubic feet) or 2,183,400 cubic feet of pine. Regarding restoration efforts, the Osceola planted 741 acres of longleaf pine, putting 384,579 seedlings in the ground. To reduce fuel density, promote understory restoration, and optimally manage the fire-dependent communities, controlled burns were conducted on over 22,130 acres. Regarding landowner outreach, The Nature Conservancy and cooperative partners, including the Alachua Conservation Trust, Florida Forest Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, North Florida Prescribed Burn Association, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, participated in a landowner meeting last August at the South Prong Plantation in Baker County, Florida. The purpose of this meeting was to provide the opportunity to learn how to effectively manage timber and wildlife goals and to determine the needs and desires of landowners within and adjacent to the O2LIT area. This meeting connected over 20 participants, including private landowners, land managers, contractors, and conservation partners, with the potential to influence restoration on over 40,000 acres of private land.

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REGIONAL UPDATES

Ocala Local Implementation Team Update By Ivor Kincaide, Alachua Conservation Trust

Alachua Conservation Trust and the Florida Forest Service hosted two Longleaf Alliance academies last July and October in the Ocala LIT. Longleaf 101, at the Withlacoochee Training Center, brought a diverse group of beginners to learn about longleaf history, biology, establishment and management strategies. Thirty-five participants from across the Ocala LIT came together in Gainesville at the Austin Cary Forest's Stern Learning Center, for Groundcover 201. Land managers from multiple public agencies as well as six private landowners who all are interested in completing groundcover restoration projects learned about specific restoration projects and toured a successful direct seed restoration project near Cross Creek, Florida. In Field tour during the Groundcover October and November, the Ecosystem Restoration Team assisted our Florida Forest Restoration 201 Academy. Photo by Ivor Kincaide. Service partners with burning out around Red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees in preparation for large-scale burns at Goethe State Forest, the second-largest longleaf site on state lands in our LIT.

South Carolina Sandhills Longleaf Pine Conservation Partnership Update By Susan Griggs, Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Sandhills Longleaf Pine Conservation Partnership (SLPCP) walked alongside local landowner Dr. KW Johnson as he hosted the South Carolina Tree Farm Field Tour and Awards Ceremony October 3, 2019. During a tour stop, SLPCP Coordinator Charles Babb presented partnership information and how he is helping Johnson implement prescribed burning. Johnson was the 2018 South Carolina Tree Farmer of the Year, a title awarded to him for the hard work and stewardship ethic he has bestowed on the property that was once owned and worked by his parents. In honor of his parents Hazel and N.W (Fish) Johnson, Johnson officially designated KW Johnson talks with attendees at a the 227-acre property the Johnson Experimental Forest (JEF). He envisions the JEF tour stop during the SC Tree Farm Field Tour and Awards Ceremony, an event as a future laboratory for students to see examples of forestry best management that was held at his 277-acre farm practices, wildlife management techniques, recreation options (hunting and fishing), located in Chesterfield County. Johnson and practices that improve water quality and reduce soil erosion. is a landowner partner with the SLPCP. Johnson gives credit to many people that have helped him. “There are so many Photo by Susan Griggs. people that have helped me develop this property into what I’ve always envisioned,” said Johnson, “I certainly wouldn’t be standing before you without their help.” However, the property isn’t just for foresters or forestry students. Johnson designated a community park with paths and picnic tables so that visitors can enjoy the area that his family has enjoyed for decades. It is an area that will always be available, as Johnson was the first person in Chesterfield County to sign an easement with the Pee Dee Land Trust. The easement ensures it will be here for future generations to enjoy, learn, and discover what the magic of the forest is all about.

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REGIONAL UPDATES

South Lowcountry – ACE Basin (SoLoACE) Longleaf Partnership Update By Bobby Franklin & Lisa Lord, The Longleaf Alliance

Winter is here between the Edisto and Savannah Rivers, and planting and burning seasons are in full swing. In October, The Savannah River Ecology Lab continued their gopher tortoise head-starting work and released another 33 one-year-old tortoises at the Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve. We also supported the Lowcountry Landowners Association’s meeting and Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service’s Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) workshop as well as the South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council’s Annual meeting. Carol Denhof and Lisa Lord taught an Advanced Master Naturalist Training on Longleaf Ecosystem Plant Identification to 17 Lowcountry Master Naturalist graduates in September at Webb Wildlife Center. And, we are on track to cost-share around 900 acres of planting and 1,300 acres of prescribed burning this planting and burning season. We are grateful to our partners for their continued support of this project: The Longleaf One-year-old gopher tortoise Alliance, Clemson University, Ducks Unlimited, The Hitchcock Woods, International Paper released at Aiken Gopher Company, Lowcountry Land Trust, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Wild Turkey Tortoise Preserve. Photo by Federation, USDA/NRCS, The Nature Conservancy, Nemours Wildlife Foundation, Private Lisa Lord. Landowner Cooperators, Spring Island Trust, Savannah River Ecology Lab, SC Audubon Society, SC Department of Natural Resources, SC Forestry Commission, South Carolina Tree Farm Committee, Upper Savannah River Land Trust, U.S. Army Corps of engineers, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service/Savannah River Forest Station.

Texas Longleaf Implementation Team (TLIT) Update By Bill Bartush, Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture and American Bird Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy and the Texas Longleaf Implementation Team sponsored a “Longleaf Groundcover” Field Day in April 2019 for Master Naturalists and private landowners. More than 700 plant species have been recorded for the Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary and conservation easement lands, providing an excellent opportunity for learning. Plant specialists and students interacted in various longleaf micro-habitats to understand the variety, complexity, and April 2019 Groundcover Field Day, Roy E. Jenny Sanders, new interrelationship of the community to the health of the Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary, Hardin Co. TLIT Coordinator ecosystem. Silsbee Texas. Photo by Wendy J. Ledbetter. The TLIT is also pleased to welcome Jenny Sanders as the new TLIT Coordinator. Jenny Sanders has degrees in Rangeland Ecology and Wildlife Management from Texas A&M University. She brings unique skills and experience to the Longleaf Team, starting with her M.S. program, which explored motivations for landowner participation in conservation programs, and later as the Conservation Program Coordinator for the Texas Wildlife Association. In that position, Jenny worked to build and nurture partnerships with state and federal agencies, other non-profits and private interests in large scale conservation efforts, including the Leon River Restoration Project, Trinity River Initiative, Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program, and more. More recently, Jenny worked in the communications realm, promoting constituent and landowner engagement in advocacy initiatives and implementation of conservation easements. Jenny enjoys serving as a spokesperson for programs she is passionate about, and restoration of native ecosystems in a way that supports landowner goals and success is certainly a passion.

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REGIONAL UPDATES

The Longleaf Alliance brings ‘Longleaf 201 Academy: Fire and Longleaf’ to Louisiana By Dan Weber, Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy

The Longleaf Alliance (LLA) brought the “Longleaf 201 Academy: Fire and Longleaf” to Louisiana last August. Hosted by the West Central Louisiana Ecosystem Partnership (WLEP), it was attended by private landowners, university students, and agency professionals from Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Lectures covered the history of longleaf and all aspects of fire from burning techniques, fire weather and burn plans to smoke management, prescribed burn certification, and post-burn monitoring. Benefits to wildlife and special situations such as burning young longleaf and areas with heavy duff layers were discussed. The group visited a longleaf restoration research plot on Kisatchie National Forest’s Palustris Field tour during Fire & Longleaf 201 Experimental Forest and a nearby private landowner’s longleaf restoration site. The Academy. Photo by LLA. attendees had management responsibility for 167,169 acres of land, making these workshops potentially high leverage educational opportunities. The WLEP, a coalition of stakeholders including the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Defense, Natural Resource Conservation Service, state and federal wildlife agencies, conservation NGOs and others, oversees longleaf and other ecosystem restoration efforts within the Fort Polk/Kisatchie National Forest Significant Geographic Area (SGA). This was the third Academy that the WLEP has brought to the SGA in partnership with LLA in an ongoing effort to increase awareness and the comfort level with returning fire to the landscape. The workshop was made possible in part with funding from NFWF, and The Wild Turkey Federation provided a limited number of scholarships for participants.

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ARTS & LITERATURE

LONGLEAFliTeRaTuRe

During this 25th anniversary year of The Alliance, The Longleaf Leader is suggesting relevant and applicable books for you to either establish, organize, or update your longleaf reference bookshelf.

Who, What, Why, When, Where? The five questions we learned in grade school to cover the basics that help us understand the situation and context. In the world of longleaf pine, we ask, What, Why, How? Here are three books that begin to answer these questions.

Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of The authors explore the interactions of longleaf with other an American Forest species, the development of longleaf forests prior to human Lawrence S. Earley, University of North Carolina Press, 2006 contact, and the influence of the longleaf on southern culture, “Covering 92 million acres from Virginia to Texas, the as well as ongoing efforts to restore these forests. Part natural longleaf pine ecosystem was, in its prime, one of the most history, part conservation advocacy, and part cultural extensive and biologically diverse ecosystems in North exploration, this book highlights the special nature of longleaf America. Today, these magnificent forests have declined to a forests and proposes ways to conserve and expand them. fraction of their original extent, threatening such species as the gopher tortoise, the red-cockaded woodpecker, and the Venus The Art of Managing Longleaf: A Personal fly-trap. Lawrence S. Earley explores the history of these forests History of the Stoddard-Neel Approach and the astonishing biodiversity with them, drawing on (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book Ser.) extensive research and telling the story through first-person Leon Neel with Paul S. Sutter and Albert G. Way, University travel accounts and interviews with foresters, ecologists, of Georgia Press, 2010 biologists, botanists, and landowners. The compelling story The Art of Managing Longleaf: A Personal History of the Earley tells offers hope that with continued human Stoddard-Neel Approach by the late Leon Neel with Paul S. Sutter commitment, the longleaf pine might not just survive, but once and Albert G. Way is really a history of the lives of Herbert again thrive.” Stoddard and Leon Neel in the Red Hills region around Thomasville, Georgia where they worked. The book is also Longleaf, Far as the Eye Can See: A New about how they came to develop the Stoddard-Neel Method of Vision of North America's Richest Forest managing longleaf pine forests and the philosophy of ecological Bill Finch, Rhett Johnson, John C. Hall, and Beth Maynor land management. This book is about Mr. Neel’s love for the Young, University of North Carolina Press, 2012 land and how landowners really can have it all: beautiful forests, Blending a compelling narrative by writers Bill Finch, Rhett lush understory, income from timber, and abundant quail. This Johnson, and John C. Hall with Beth Maynor Young's is a must read for all those that care for the longleaf ecosystem. breathtaking photography, Longleaf, Far as the Eye Can See invites readers to experience the astounding beauty and significance of the majestic longleaf ecosystem.

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ARTS & LITERATURE

LONGLEAF ART SPOTLIGHT

Tread by Julie Tew

treading lightly in wild places and acting to protect and respect them for the benefit of all. Inspired by the artist’s first view of wild black bear tracks along a hiking trail.

About the Artist Julie Tew recently picked up pen and paper again after deciding to dedicate October (also known as Inktober in the art community) to one small drawing per day. She followed the official list of prompts to finish 31 pieces, all of them themed around the plants and animals found in Florida’s wild places. After growing up in Northwest Florida with an interest in writing, drawing, and science, Julie moved to Tallahassee and completed a BA in English Creative Writing. Staying in Tallahassee for work, she soon discovered the nearby wilderness areas, including St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Aucilla WMA’s Western Sloughs, and Apalachicola National Forest. These beautiful places inspired her interest in photography, reigniting her passion for art. The vast longleaf pine flatwoods filled with carnivorous plants and terrestrial orchids especially moved her. She continues to trek throughout the Florida Panhandle region when she can, About the Art exploring and photographing these unique environments. Two interwoven themes play in this scene—the wild black You can follow Julie and see more of her work, including bear in her wilderness home, and the manmade trail she walks her photography, on Flickr at flickr.com/jupitersnest, and on along. The black bear leaves behind nothing but her Instagram @jupitersnest. pawprints in the soft sand. Humanity can learn from her by

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Flatwoods habitat on Altama. Photo by GA-DNR.

Longleaf Destinations Altama Plantation WMA Glynn County, Georgia Owned and Managed by Georgia Department of Natural Resources

The Altama Plantation WMA is a conservation priority for famous for scientific, cultural, architectural, and other The Nature Conservancy, the Georgia Department of Natural contributions, including leading the survey for the Georgia- Resources, and the U.S. Marine Corps. It was one of the last Florida boundary and designing Christ Church in Savannah. two large unprotected tracts in the lower Altamaha vulnerable The Indigo Snake’s scientific name, Drymarchon couperi, honors to development. Through this purchase of Altama’s 3986 acres, Couper, as he collected the first recorded specimen in 1842 on an additional five miles of frontage along the Altamaha River the grounds of Altama. and Hammersmith Creek was protected. The property connects Altama consists of 1800 acres of uplands, including 1500 Georgia’s coastal saltmarsh, estuary, and barrier islands directly acres of ecologically-significant pine flatwoods. These protected with its freshwater tidal bottomland, and interior Coastal Plain, lands are being restored to their original natural habitats through the Altamaha River and its tributaries. primarily of longleaf pine, wetlands, and flatwoods. The Altama (an early spelling of Altamaha) and its various property provides substantial habitat for wildlife, such as the owners’ place in Georgia history is well-documented and gopher tortoise and indigo snake. It also provides an expansive significant. Acquired first in 1763 by William Hopeton of outdoor recreation area for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor South Carolina via a Grant from the King of England, it was pursuits, while protecting water quality in the creeks and eventually converted into an iconic southern rice plantation by estuaries of the Altamaha River, the largest recreational and James Hamilton Couper. Altama was complete with an commercial fishery in Georgia. intricate system of dikes, canals, and tidal floodgates and a Altama was protected in 2015 through a partnership made moveable rail system for transporting crops. Couper became up of The Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service,

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Young longleaf recruit. Sandhill milkweed in bloom. Photo by GA-DNR. Photo by Carol Denhof.

Remnants of the historic sugar mill on the property. Photo by GA-DNR.

Property frontage along the Altamaha River. Photo by Carol Denhof.

sold a restrictive easement to the United States Marine Corps, which enlarges a land-use buffer for the Townsend Bombing Range. The Conservancy then made additional cash contributions to the project and sold the property to the State of Georgia at a substantial discount. Stratford Land, the owner of Altama since 2010, worked diligently with The Nature Conservancy and the State to complete this project. They provided the time needed to arrange support and are to be commended for their dedication to this outcome. Altama Plantation is an important asset to Georgia’s natural, outdoor, and historical heritage. This land was managed as a private hunting retreat since 1914, and the public can now access Altama’s scenic forests and well-maintained natural habitats. Located in Glynn County near Interstate 95, it is easily accessible to outdoor recreationists. The upland acres are especially welcome Map showing landcover types on Altama WMA to hunters of deer, turkey, and other upland game, and the former rice impoundments are productive waterbird areas that US Marine Corps/Navy, GA DNR, and two private significantly contribute to the Altamaha’s world-class foundations, with assistance from other NGOs such as National destination status for waterfowl hunting. The diversity and Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, The resilience of these habitats are also prized for hiking, paddling, Environmental Resources Network, St. Simon’s Land Trust, birdwatching, botanizing, and other recreational and Georgia Conservancy, Coastal WildScapes, 100 Miles, and the educational pursuits. Altamaha Riverkeeper. The Nature Conservancy purchased the For more information about visiting Altama WMA visit tract from Stratford Land, a private-equity real estate firm, then https://georgiawildlife.com/altama-plantation-wma.

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PEOPLE

Transitions within The Alliance

Carol Denhof — our new President! Carol officially landowners in southwest Alabama with forestry, wildlife, and became President of The Longleaf Alliance on November 1, natural resources questions. In this corner of the state, that no 2019. To ensure a smooth transition of leadership and the doubt means Ryan will continue to be an advocate for longleaf continued forward momentum of The Alliance, Robert restoration. While we miss having Ryan on staff, longleaf pine Abernethy moved into the role of Director of Special Projects. is a significant part of duties in his new role, and he remains Beginning as The Alliance's Understory Coordinator in on "team longleaf," continuing his work with private 2011, Carol has steadily assumed more responsibility with landowners, industry, and agency partners to promote better great success. She led significant outreach initiatives such as stewardship and practices. Although his phone number remains growing our newsletter to the current 40 to 60-page full-color the same, his current email is [email protected]. magazine, The Longleaf Leader and leading the management of the organization's online media platforms. Since 2013, Carol Emma Browning — is continuing her work to restore and has been responsible for planning and coordinating the Biennial manage gopher tortoises under new grant funding, now Longleaf Conferences, setting attendance records along the way. through Virginia Tech, rather than as an employee of LLA. We She led the refresh of The Alliance brand and helped to reframe are pleased the monitoring and restoration work at Eglin and focus our organization's strategic priorities. Carol is an continues uninterrupted and will continue to work with Emma excellent communicator, skilled facilitator, and science as a partner in these efforts, just not as often in the day-to-day. educator. She shares her knowledge and passion by teaching Edward O'Daniels — was promoted from Wetland Ecosystem others, especially in our Longleaf Academies, on topics Support Team Leader to a new combined role with the title of including identification, management, and restoration of Cogongrass and Tyndall Project Coordinator. Ed is dividing his healthy understory within longleaf ecosystems. Furthermore, time between managing the hurricane salvage logging and her knowledge of the longleaf resource, her excellent restoration efforts at Tyndall Air Force Base and the challenges relationship with the staff and our partners, and her dedication of cogongrass control efforts in the GCPEP landscape. Alan and passion to our cause inspires others to care even more Patterson and Joseph Mann — joined the LLA and the deeply for the longleaf forest. Wetland Ecosystem Support Team as Team Members. Alan has Born and raised in southwest Georgia, Carol received both a General Associate in Arts degree from Pensacola State College her BS and MS in Biology from Georgia Southern University. and is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Natural During her 23-year career, this accomplished botanist has Resource Conservation from the University of Florida. His concentrated on the study and restoration of the unique and previous work includes serving as both a volunteer and an diverse habitats that are part of the longleaf ecosystem. Her intern with Jackson Guard on Eglin Air Force Base, where he experience has taken her from the restored wetlands of The assisted with conservation efforts centered on the reticulated Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve in Florida, flatwoods salamander, Florida bog frog, and gopher tortoise. to the longleaf habitats of the Jones Center at Ichauway, and Joseph graduated from Berry College with a Bachelor of Science finally to rare pitcher plant habitats across the southeast with in Environmental Science in May of 2018. He has experience The Atlanta Botanical Garden, before joining The Longleaf working as a naturalist and at the Altamaha Wildlife Alliance. Management Area and Wildlife Refuge. His qualifications include Wildland Firefighter Type II, chain saw and UTV use, Ryan Mitchell — In November, Ryan departed The and a pesticide license needed for restoration applications. Nick Alliance to begin a new role as the Regional Extension Agent Barys — advanced to Wetland Ecosystem Support Team with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, assisting Leader.

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PEOPLE Remembering Jon Gould Longleaf enthusiasts lost a friend, a passionate advocate, and (and hosting tours), meetings, and conferences. Jon served on a champion for stewardship with Florida’s Tree Farm Program State the recent passing of Jon Gould. Committee for 11 years. He was Jon and Jon grew up in Titusville, Florida, Carol Gould co-editor of the Florida Land where early on, his father instilled Steward newsletter for ten years in him a love of pine trees. Indeed, and wrote for several forestry and he loved all pine trees, but those wildlife publications, presenting who loved longleaf were scarcer the challenges for the private back then. Jon was deeply landowner. One of the original committed to being a tree farmer, members of The Longleaf Alliance, but that was the way he did Jon was an invited speaker everything. Together with his wife representing private landowners at Carol and their growing family, the 2014 biennial conference. In they shared their dedication and 2006, The Goulds were awarded enthusiasm for forestry land the Florida Tree Farmers of the management as private landowners for over 30 years. They were Year, and in 2018, the Southern Regional Outstanding Tree always increasing their knowledge by participating in state and Farmers of the Year. national forestry organizations and attending workshops, tours

By Ludie Bond, Florida Forest Service – Waccasassa Forestry Center Gilly and Rogers Retire from Florida Forest Service to improve the genetic diversity of the nursery’s seedlings. Through their efforts, Andrews Nursery increased containerized longleaf seedling production from 1.4 million in 1987 to over 4 million today. “The dedication of these two men, growing hundreds of millions of seedlings, is a legacy that will live on for generations,” said Jim Karels, State Forester and Director of the Florida Tommy Rogers (L) & Steve Gilly Forest Service. at AndrewsNursery. Photo by Located in Chiefland, the Florida Florida Forest Service. Forest Service has managed Andrews Nursery for more than 55 years. Steve Gilly and Tommy Rogers worked If you visited or called Andrews Nursery in the last three together to produce the seedlings needed to sustain and grow decades, chances are you spoke to Steve Gilly or Tommy Florida’s forest industry, a primary mission of the nursery. Trees Rogers. This partnership began in 1987 when they joined the grown at Andrews Nursery have been planted across Florida, Florida Forest Service at Andrews Nursery. After 32 years of on public and private lands, on large and small tracts, and for exemplary service, both men retired last August. timber production and wildlife habitat. By constantly pursuing excellence, Gilly and Rogers The Florida Forest Service, a division of the Florida promoted the long-term vitality of Florida’s forests. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, manages Throughout their careers, they oversaw improvements to over 1 million acres of state forests and provides forest nursery facilities and equipment, conducted trials to improve management assistance on more than 17 million acres of private cultural practices, and broadened the longleaf pine seed source and community forests.

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PEOPLE

By Brian Van Eerden, The Nature Conservancy Celebrating Protection of Virginia’s Showcase Longleaf Property

Attendees learning about prescribed burning during Evening dedication dinner at the Country Club of Petersburg. the burn demonstration. Photo by Bobby Clontz. Photo by Bobby Clontz.

Over 120 family members, neighbors and conservation cocktail hour to offer views on Virginia’s forest heritage – partners gathered to celebrate protection of over 1,850 acres Thomas Jefferson, portrayed in full costume by Kurt Smith of owned by William Owen in Sussex County, Virginia. The the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Attendees were treated Nature Conservancy (TNC) holds a conservation easement over to a delicious four-course dinner – “A Taste of Virginia” the property and has worked closely with Bill and numerous featuring seafood, ham, cheese and wines produced across the agencies to recover northern savanna habitat on his land, among state. Dinner speakers included The Longleaf Alliance’s Reese the rarest of longleaf habitats across southeastern U.S. Bill’s Thompson and Bettina Ring, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture property is the core of the Raccoon Creek Pinelands, one of the and Forestry, who presented the keynote address. Secretary highest priority longleaf restoration sites identified by the Ring showcased the significance of the state’s longleaf pine Longleaf Cooperators of Virginia LIT. heritage and the importance of forest restoration and land The event included an afternoon outing to the property, protection to Virginia’s environmental and economic future. featuring a controlled burn by the Virginia Interagency Burn The evening closed with an inaugural presentation of a Crew and an appearance by Burner Bob®, courtesy of Reese “Longleaf Conservation Champion of Virginia” plaque to Bill Thompson and The Longleaf Alliance. Attendees were engaged Owen. The award was established in 2019 to recognize by biologists, forest ecologists and representatives from individuals leading the way to restore the Commonwealth of various agencies. A number of guests helped plant Virginia Virginia’s “founding forest.” In addition to his longleaf acreage native longleaf seedlings, adding to the 1,250 acres of existing achievements, Bill has been a leading advocate for the use of longleaf on the property that have been planted since 2000. prescribed burning for forest restoration. He recently joined Following the field trip, guests traveled to the Country Club The Longleaf Alliance’s Board of Directors. of Petersburg where a surprise dignitary entered during the

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SUPPORT THE ALLIANCE

By Lynnsey Basala, The Longleaf Alliance

NewRESOLUTION Year’s

Happy New Year friends across the range. We wish to extend with an affinity for the longleaf ecosystem, develop new and a heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful, dedicated and important creative ways for supporters to contribute, and educate the nonprofit, state and federal conservation partners, individuals urban populations about the majestic longleaf forest. It’s a and families, corporations, foundations and organizations that privilege to do the work we’re accomplishing on the ground. have allowed The Longleaf Alliance to continue to lead the Thank you for choosing to give your high-impact donations to effort in maintaining longleaf pine forests and their biologically The Longleaf Alliance through our wide array of multi-channel diverse habitats throughout the southeast. giving vehicles. Whether you donated $10 or The Longleaf Alliance had another great year $10,000 this year, your contribution does not go with significant achievements in areas of unnoticed. With that said, The Longleaf improving forest health and understanding Alliance strongly encourages you to not only longleaf; raising awareness and growing renew support this year, but consider increasing communities; conserving diverse forests; your donation. We are forever grateful for your restoring longleaf ecosystems. All of this is trust and efforts to strengthen The Longleaf exciting and possible thanks to the countless Alliance’s mission. individuals highlighted on the supporter list. This list contains those that contributed funds The following quote seems fitting as we reflect on 2019 and between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019. If you find look to the opportunities the new year presents: If You Are that we have made an error, please call our headquarters in Working on Something That You Really Care About, You Don’t Have Andalusia, Alabama or email us at [email protected] to Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You. – Steve Jobs so we can correct our records. We are eager to carry this momentum into 2020. There is The Longleaf Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization and much to look forward to as we host the 13th Biennial Longleaf contributions may be tax-deductible to the fullest extent Conference in Wilmington, NC this fall. As we continue to permitted by law. expand on the achievements mentioned above, meet new folks “Premium with a Purpose” Bath Tissue

Georgia‐Pacific is committed to delivering innovative solutions that give consumers the products they want while helping protect the environment. They saw an opportunity to make a new generation of toilet paper, Aria®, combining quality and sustainability. The trees used to make Aria® are locally and sustainably sourced. They developed a proprietary process that reduces energy use by mechanically pressing out some of the water. In addition, all the energy used to make Aria® comes from 100 percent renewable biomass power generated on the mill site. As for the packaging, Aria® is the first Georgia‐Pacific brand to use plastic wrap made from 51 percent plant‐based materials to help conserve fossil fuels. The packaging is also 100 percent recyclable. Finally, Georgia-Pacific partnered with The Longleaf Alliance to plant three additional trees for each tree used to make Aria®. While most trees are replaced through replanting or natural regeneration, they are putting back more than they use. Planting longleaf pines in the De Soto National Forest in Mississippi will help restore habitats for several at‐risk wildlife species including the gopher tortoise and the red‐cockaded woodpecker.

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2019 SUPPORTERS

Members of The Longleaf Alliance’s Palustris Society The Palustris Society was founded by several members of The Longleaf Alliance Board of Directors to further the legacy that Rhett Johnson and Dean Gjerstad created to protect and restore longleaf forestlands. Since its inception in Fall 2015, twenty-one members representing seven states across the range, have joined the elite group of dedicated conservationists who share a dream of restored and viable working longleaf forests by making a donation or pledge of $10,000 or more to The Longleaf Alliance. Commitments range from annual contributions of $10,000 or more to single commitments of $10,000 to be paid over a period of up to five years. $50,000 Level Dr. William Owen III Barclay & Jane Perry McFadden Dr. Mickey & Stephanie Parker Charley & Susan Tarver* William J. Payne Richard & Rita Porterfield* $25,000 Level Mac Rhodes Marianna & Rufus Duncan Dr. Salem & Dianne Saloom and Family* Audrey Thompson $10,000 Level Reese Jordan Thompson & Pam McIntyre Thompson Lynda Beam* Drs. George & Anne Tyson* Gary & Melda Boyd Marc & Penny Walley Judd Brooke Phillip & Debbie Woods* David & Jane Kidd Angus & Cary Lafaye Amanda Haralson & Thomas A. Livesay *These donors have designated all or a portion of their contribution to The Longleaf Julie Moore Alliance Endowment.

Friends of The Longleaf Alliance Gary W. Barnes David Boykin, Jr. Rob & Alicia Calley William & Patricia Abeles Elizabeth Barnhardt & Brent Jamie Bracewell Christopher Campbell Robert & Yvonne Abernethy Wilson James Bracewell Charles H. Cannon Russell A. Acree Hobcaw Barony Daniel H. Bradley Angela Carl John Adams Jacob Barrett Mary B. Bradley Gordon B. Carlisle Walter L. Adams, Jr. Craig Barrow III Don Bragg Susan Carr James H. Adams, Jr. Michael & Lynnsey Basala Heather Brasell Ann M. Carswell Wayne Allen Kacie Bauman Allen Braswell Robert Carter Bill Allen Ed Baxley Jon Brater Joseph H. Carter III Todd Amacker & Kendra Straub Michael Beale & David Breithaupt Douglas & Elizabeth Carter Bob Amacker Kaye C. Richards-Beale Bradley Breland Ana Castillo Eric & Sherri Amundson Allen Bearden Nancy Brennan Joel P. Casto Jada Jo Tullos Anderson Brady Beck Daniel Brethaver William P. Cate Guy Anglin & Jan Blue Scott Bedenbaugh Brenda Brickhouse Allan P. Causey Cordelia M. Apicella Travis M. Bedsole, Jr. Gertrud A. Briggs Larry J. Chalkley, Sr. Austin Arabie Barbara A. Bell Richard L. Broadwell Allen Chamberlain Jon & Kathleen Arnold John H. Bell, Jr. Dale Brockway Robert Chambers Terry Arnold William Belmont Eugene Brooks Cecil Chambliss, Jr. John "Bo" Arnold Mary B. Belmont Paul Brouha Dustin Champagne Jason T. Ayers Blake Bennett William C. Brown Charles R. Chandler Charles Babb Liza Berdnik Oberly Brown Charles M. Chapin Alan C. Bailey Carl Bethune Jerome Brown Lloyd Douglas Chapman Clifton J. Bailey Seth Bigelow Danny Bryant Bruce A. Chapman W. Wilson Baker Roger Birkhead James B. Buchan Steve Chapman James D. Baker Mike Black Ellen Buchanan George Chastain Clay Bales Bill Black Ansel Bunch Mike Chism Julie Ballenger W. Robert Blackledge Gary Burger Robert Ciminel Ed & Darleen Barbee Alex Boldog Forest Burks Martin Cipollini Anne W. Barkdoll Mark & Marsha Bollinger Ryan Burnett Barry Clark Jan Barlow, Jr. Ryan Bollinger Anthony Cabales Gregory Clayton

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SUPPORT THE ALLIANCE

Herbie Clearman Davis K. Easterling Matt & Aubrey Greene Michael & Mary Ann Huston Emily Clem Katherine M. Eddins Paul Greene Jon R. Ingram Robert Clontz Andrew Edelman Robert C. Griffin A.J. Isacks III Steve Clubine Bernard H. Eichold II Travis M. Guinn Alison Ives William L. Clyburn David Elliott Jim Guldin Joe F. Ivey Steve Coates R. Patrick Elliott Maureen Hafernik-Franks Steve Jack Joe Cockrell Jeffery L. Elliott Richard Hagerty Karen L. Jackson Bill Cole Thomas & Judith Ellis Mark J. Hainds Glenn Jackson Thomas Coleman Memorie English Dave Hale Harold James Hal F. Collier Todd Engstrom Daniel O. Hall Joe B. Jennings Durden Collins Danny Epting Julia L. Hall Betty Jewett M. Calhoun Colvin, Jr. Sam Erby, Jr. Jim Hamilton Knowlton W. Johnson William Consoletti Troy Ettel James L. Hamrick Jon L. Johnson Eugene Cook Kent Evans Eleanor G. Hand Clifford W. Johnson James F. Copeland Charlie Faires David H. Hardin Rhett Johnson Matthew Corby George L. Farmer Michael Hardy Carl T. Jones, Jr. John Corey C. David Farnsworth Kyle E. Harms Brannon Jones Charles Cox Grace Fernandez-Matthews Joseph N. Harper, Jr. David Jones Casey Cox John L. Fezio Joseph P. Harps Chuck Jones David S. Craig Jeff Fields Charles Miner Harrell Suzanne Jongebloed LuAnn Craighton Robbie Fisher George & Jo Ann Harris James Ralph Jordan, Jr. Shannon Crate Robert Fisher Tyson Hart Anderson Kane Mac Creech Frank B. Flanders III Claudia Harvie Brendon Kelly Elwin B. Cropp Earl Fleming David Hayden Maria Kendall Leah Norton Cross Wade D. Fletcher Phil Hazle David A. Kidd Bill Culbreth Cullen Foley Vaughan Hedrick Wallace Killcrease David R. Daigle Sean Foote Brandon Heitkamp Carolyn Kindell John Daniels William Forbes James Helmers Christopher Kirby Tom L. Darden Larry Ford Nathan V. Hendricks III Allen Kirchner Edward W. Davidson James G. Fowke Frank Henley Nathan Klaus Daniel P. Davison, Jr. Patrick Franklin Mike Henningan Sally Koerner Nicholas Day Robert M. Franklin Sharon Hermann John Ladson III Tom Deans Conrad J. Franz Stephanie Hertz Charles Lane Richard Deas, Jr. Reed Freeman Tom Hess Stephen Lange Paul Deese Steve & Judi Friedman Clifton Hill William R. Langford William R. Delk Dan Frisk Hal & Suzanne Hinman Paul J. Langford Robert H. Demere, Jr. Berthold Fritz John H. Hinz Rob Langford Samuel A. Denham James Furman Larry Hodges Ethelwyn H. D. Langston Doug & Carol Denhof John Gilbert Harry L. Hodges Eleanor Lanier Hoyt Lane Dennard, Jr. Frank Gilliam Valentijn Hoff Robert K. Larimore William Deutsch Dean Gjerstad Thomas Holbrook, Jr. Stallworth Larson Don Dickmann Bob Glenn Michael P. Holland William S. Laseter Don and Tyane Dietz Susan Glenn Benjamin Holten Judy R. Latham Robert E. Dismukes Kirk Glenn John W. Hoomes Wendy Ledbetter C. C. Dockery Susan Glenn Scott Hoover Tom Ledbetter Chris Doffitt Howard Gnann Doug Hornbeck Anne R. Lee Vic Doig Angie Gnann Rick Horsley George H. Lee Arthur Domby Pat Godbold Joy Hotchkiss David Lee Clare N. Drebitko Jon H. Gould Cecil B. Howard Keri Lejeune Carson Dugger, Jr. Monty Graham Chase Howard Stephen T. Lindeman David Dukes Baron Graham Jean Huffman Frank M. Lipp Wendy Dunaway Rena Graham Anne Hugghins Robert E. Livingston III Scott Duncan B.A. Graham III Jimmy Hughes James A. Lockwood Jacalyn Duncan Greg Grant David Huguenin Rebecca Logan Allen Dykes Bryan Green Stephanie Huguenin Kathy Long Lawrence S. Earley Ralph G. Greene William C. Hunter Darren Loomis

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SUPPORT THE ALLIANCE

Jeff & Lisa Lord Glen & Vicki Mixon Ad & Margaret Platt Thomas O. Sanders III Peter & Babette Loring Stephen Montgomery Beth B. Plummer Holley Sanford Jack C. Lufkin Buddy & Robin Moody James Porter III Andrew Saunders Robert Lurate Ken Moore Dotty S. Porter Thomas W. Savage Douglas N. Lurie Marylou Moore Rick Potter C. David Sawyer, Jr. Camille Luscher Doug Moore Ralph Potts Mary Sayer Tom Lydon Dawn Moore Richard H. Powell IV William F. Schoell Paul M. Lyrene John R. Morgan, Jr. Glen E. Powell Jonathan Scott Edward Mackay M. Lane Morrison Clifford M. Preston Michael Sessions Gil Mackey Jeffery Morton Laura Prevatte Adam Shadow Amy Mackintosh Jana Mott Christian A. Preziosi Randall P. Shaffer Henry C. Magee III Gary D. Mozel Carol Price Terry Sharpe Troy Mallach Kim Mumbower Tom Proctor III Gates Shaw Dudley M. Maples Mark Munkittrick Howard K. Putnal Neal L. Shealy Jeff Marcus Lytton J. Musselman Sally T. Querin Richard B. Shelfer Joel W. Marsh Stephen Musser Bill Querin David M. Sherman John Matel & Christine John N. Neal Paxton Ramsdell Matthew Sieja Johnson Darin Newman Tom Rankin Kent Simmons Debbie Maurer Kenwood C. Nichols Steve Raper Graham Simmons Craig Maurice Trice C. Nichols Andrew Rappe Charles Simon Tom Maxwell Matt Nicholson David Ratcliffe James M. Simons Bobby R. McAfee Shannon Pittman Nielsen Dan Rather Gerhard E. Skaar Robert B. McCartney Mary F. Nieminen Robert Ravenscroft Bill Smith Karen McConville Ben O'Connor James W. Rawles, Jr. Latimore Smith James & Susan McCracken Molly O'Connor Kyle & Ann Redden Mathew Smith Suella McCrimmon Mike & Bettye Older Walter Reeves Beverly H. Smith Howard McCullough James M. Oliver Bob Reid Byron Smith Mark & Peggy McElreath Raymond E. Oliver Daniel Reynolds Gary N. Smith Mitchell L. McElroy Mike Oliver Edward H. Reynolds Steve Smith Mike McEnany Julia O'Neal Steve Reynolds D.S. Smith Thomas McFadden Kenneth W. Outcalt Charles & Suzanne Rhodes Geoffrey Sorrell Barclay McFadden III Bert G. Outlaw Allen C. Rice James St. John Barclay McFadden IV Keith Owen Phil & Helen Richardson Paul & Brenda Standish Margaret McFaddin Hugh Owens James V. Richburg Ken Stanton Jane A. McFaddin J. Mark Paden Cecilia Richmond Deck Stapleton James Hugh McFaddin, Jr. Ronnie Padgett Abraham Rifkin Dwight L. Stewart Alison McGee John Parker Joseph M. Riley Beth Stewart Trippy McGuire Anne P. Parker Adrian Ringland James P. Stewart Courtney McInnerney Justin Parks Lanning Risher Jonathan M. Stober Kevin McIntyre Greg & Michele Paschal Janet Ritter Ken Stocks Hervey McIver Karen Patterson Louie Rivers, Jr. Matthew Stoddard Thomas McKee William J. Payne Sonny Roberts Charles & Jacqueline Stone Kimberly McLain Sandy Peacock Kevin Robertson Chris Stone Larry & Virginia McLendon Nealy & Linda Pearce Calvin Robinson Perry Stowe Frank A. McLeod III L.O. Peebles, Jr. Charles Roe Rhonda Sturgill Joe W. McNeel III Robert K. Peet Chad Rogers Bill Sullivan Wendy McNeil Tami Pellicane & Nick Hart Fiona N. Rohde Jon R. Sullivan C.G. Meador III Timothy Penton Curtis Rollins Kenneth Summerville Roger W. Mickelson Gary Peters Thomas F. Roney Mary Anne Sword Sayer Brandy Midura William & Charlotte Pfeiffer Charles & Brenda Roose R. Scott Taylor Lou Ann Miller Thomas & Carol Pinckney Helen Roth Jeff Taylor Douglas Miller Clarissa E. Pipes Monica Rother Donald Temple Susan L. Miller John Pitre William Rumble Adam Terry Weldon Miller Van Pittman Scott Sager James L. Thacker, Jr. Robert L. Mills Rush Pittman David & Rhonda Saint Claude Thomas Judy Mingledorff Rusty Plair Mark Salley Lindsay Thomas

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SUPPORT THE ALLIANCE

M. Frank Thompson, Jr. Steve Worthington $1,000 - $2,000 Level Stone Mountain Farm, LLC William L. Tietjen Larry F. Wright Coastal Pinestraw Tree Ring Pens Stanford L. Tillman Nathan Yeldell Green Assets Varn Wood Products, LLC Enoch S. Timothy, Sr. Alyssa Young Groton Land Company, Inc. Wells Printing & Promotional Albert & Patty Tisi Gary & Julia Youngblood Hood Industries, Inc. White Oak Forestry Corporation Gena Todia Samuel Youngblood Little Thomas, LLC Jeni A. Toll Lamar Zipperer Merrily Plantation, Inc. $100-$249 Level Jerry Tomblin James Zito Molpus Woodlands Group, Ammerman Timber Company, Tom Tomlinson LLC LLC Amy Trice Corporate Conservation Partners Nutrien Ag Solutions Bankhead Land & Timber Sarah Trichel $7,000 Level Roundstone Native Seed, LLC Beach Forest Management Jackie & Rob Trickel Georgia-Pacific The Cargo Hold Black Mingo Plantation, LLC James Truax Aria Journey The Westervelt Company Bradco, Inc. W. Bennett Tucker WD CHIPS, LLC Bradley Tree Farms, LLC James & Meriget Turner $6,000 Level Whipple Tree Farm C.V. Forestry Services, Inc. Adam Tyson Appalachian Mountain Carolina Heart Pine, Inc. Elizabeth Updegraff Brewery $500 - $750 Level Charles Dixon & Co., LLC John Vick Enviva Charles Ingram Lumber Co. Cone's Folly Timber Farm, LLC James Vick Cohassett Farm, LLC Congaree River, LLC Ricky Vinson $5,000 Level Crosby Land & Resources Crowell Forest Resources, LLC Skip Vogelsang & Dianne Blair Advantage Forestry Container Graphic Packaging Delaney Development, Inc. Dale Wade Pines, LLC Corporation Dexter Longleaf, LLC James D. Wadsworth ArborGen, LLC Mid Atlantic Pine Straw Diamond Timberlands, LLC Frank Walburn Blanton's Longleaf Container SunFarm Energy Earl H. Bennett Forestry, Inc. Lomax D. Walker, Jr. Nursery Templin Forestry, Inc. Forestall Company, Inc. Joan Walker CHEP; A Brambles Company Visions, LLC Gillespie Lumber, LTD William C. Walley Flowing Well, LLC Wake Stone Corporation Grace Acres Farms Kristal Walsh Hancock Timber Resource Woodstone Resources, LLC Hart Family Farm, LLC Melanie Walter Group Hill Forest Management Clay Ware International Forest Company $250-$499 Level JE Pittman Pea River Farm, LLC Anna C. Wasden Meeks Farms & Nursery, Inc. American Forest Management Jenkins Timber Properties, LLC George Watkins Packaging Corporation of B & S Air, Inc. K & L Forest Nursery Shirley M. Watson America Batts Tree Farm May Nursery, Inc. Elliot D. Weaver Resource Management Bill Ardrey Forestry, Inc. Mulberry Plantation, Inc. Dan Weber Service, LLC Broadwell Brothers, LLC Nixon Land Company Kevin Weis DVM The F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Burke Holdings, L.P. O.W. Cox Naval Stores, LLC David Weiss Co. Cedar Creek Land & Timber Inc. Oser Forestry Services Shane Wellendorf Whitfield Farms & Nursery Cheeha Combahee Plantation OVF Management, Inc. Michael J. Wetherbee Dargan, King & Knight. LLC Pasley River Farms, Inc. E. John Whelchel $2,500 - $4,999 Level Flowers Forestry, LLC Plantation Pinestraw Gary White Bodenhamer Farms and Folio Fred, LLC Rigdon Livestock Farms, Inc. George B. Whitehurst Nursery Folk Land Management, Inc. Rinky Dink Farm Joel & Allise Whitworth Drax Biomass Henderson & Associates, Inc. River Ridge Plantation Suzanne H. Williams Duncan-Two, LTD John L. Russell Properties, LLC Sand Hills Forestry Rick Williams Ernst Conservation Seeds Loblolly Forest Sizemore & Sizemore, Inc. Charles Williams Forest Investments Associates Long Leaf Land & Timber, LLC Spring Creek Land Company, Linda J. Wilson Forestate Growers, LLC Moore Farms Botanical Garden, LLC Rebecca Wilson Fram Renewable Fuels, LLC LLC Stuewe & Sons, Inc. Jesse Wimberley International Paper Nancy R. Walters Consulting Swanson Forestry & Real Estate John C. Winn Milliken Forestry Company, Norman Plantation, LLC Co. John Winthrop Inc. Oakridge Partners, LP Thomas Farms, Inc. Fremont P. Wirth New-Indy Catawba, LLC PowerSouth Energy Cooperative Thompson Forest Consultants, James E. Wise Outdoor Underwriters, Inc. Sam's Bottle Shop Inc. Andrew Woodham Proptek Southern Seed Company, Inc. Timberland Transitions, LLC John D. Woodward PRT Growing Services Spring Lake Tree Farm, LLC Uchee Farms, LP James M. Woodward Worman Forestry

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W.A. Freise & Sons Timber Youth Villages AmeriCorps US Forest Service National Wild Turkey and Land Company, Inc. US Forest Service, Conecuh Federation, North Carolina Wildland Management Agency Conservation Partners National Forest Chapter Services, LLC Alabama Department of US Forest Service, Kisatchie National Wild Turkey Wolfe Timber Conservation and Natural National Forest Federation, South Carolina Woodland Cottage LLC Resources US Forest Service, Oakmulgee Chapter Chesterfield Soil and Water Ranger District Norfolk Southern Foundation Up to $100 Level Conservation District USDA Natural Resources Pine Needle Garden Club Aucilla Pines, LLC Clemson University Conservation Service Poarch Band of Creek Indians BB & MS Rounsaville Farms Florida Department of Natural Virginia Department of Robert K. Johnson Foundation Big Survey Plantation Resources Management, Forestry Sethy Springs Charitable Trust BR Mosley Land Co. LLC Escambia County Sid & Vivian Beech Trust Brewer Lands, LLC Florida Fish and Wildlife Nonprofit Conservation Partners Solon & Martha Dixon C & M Farms Conservation Commission Alabama Forestry Association Foundation Canebrake Farm, LLC Florida Forest Service Alabama Forest Owner's South Carolina Association of Chartered Foresters, Inc. Georgia Department of Natural Association Consulting Foresters Chilton Timber & Land Co., Resources Wildlife Alabama TREASURE Forest South Carolina Bluebird LLC Resources Division Association Society Cleveland, Inc. Georgia Forestry Commission American Forest Foundation South Carolina Tree Farm Coward Family LTD Louisiana Department of American Forests Committee Partnership Agriculture and Forestry Anonymous Southeast Regional Land Dopson Forestry Services Louisiana Department of Anonymous Conservancy, Inc. Forest and Land Management Wildlife and Fisheries Arbor Day Foundation Southeastern Society of Inc. LSU, Department of Biological Audubon South Carolina American Foresters, Flint Forest and Real Estate, Inc. Science Baton Rouge Bicknell Family Charitable Fund River Chapter Forest Lodge Farms, LLC National Fish and Wildlife Bradley/Murphy Forestry & Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Good Earth Systems, LLC Foundation Natural Resources Extension Inc. Goose Creek Forestry Natural Resources Trust Tall Timbers Research, Inc. Hand Me Down Farm, LLC Conservation Services FFS & Alachua Land Trust The City of Greenville, South Harrison Woodlands, LLC North Carolina Division of Florida Wildlife Federation Carolina Keim's Forestry Services Forest Resources Friends of St. Marks Wildlife The Conservation Fund Leary Properties, LLP North Carolina Forest Service Refuge The Horton Trust Leon Farms, LLC North Carolina State University Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley The Jones Center at Ichauway Light Forestry Consulting South Carolina Department of Foundation The Natives Services, LLC Natural Resources Wildlife Gulf Power Foundation The Nature Conservancy McKeon Tree Farm and Freshwater Fisheries Henry Fair Family Fund for the The Orton Foundation Mobile Botanical Gardens Division Environment of Coastal The Sandhills Area Land Trust Never Fail Farms South Carolina Forestry Community The Sledge Foundation, Inc. North Bassett's Creek Timber Commission Hitchcock Woods Foundation The Wheeler Family Fund Management Texas A & M Forest Service John Winthrop Charitable Trust Thomas and Loraine Williams Ole Pataula Farms, LLC Texas Parks & Wildlife Lillian C. McGowin Foundation Foundation RCWO, LLC United States Forest Service Louisiana Forestry Association Universal Ethician Church Reid Farms, LP US Department of Military Max McGraw Wildlife Walthour-Moss Foundation Rutland Forest Nursery Affairs Foundation Williams Family Foundation of South Carolina Pole & Piling, US Endowment for Forestry Mississippi Fish & Wildlife Georgia Inc. and Communities Foundation Southern Forestry Consultants, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mobile Botanical Gardens Inc. Alabama National Audubon Society Sunny Brook Farms US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Bobwhite Conservation Three Rivers Forestry LLC Georgia Initiative Timber Investment Managers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish and Wildlife LLC North Carolina Foundation Varn Turpentine & Cattle US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Federation Company South Carolina National Wild Turkey Wabi Sabi by Nature US Fish and Wildlife Service, Federation, Florida Chapter Yeamans Hall Club Texas

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HEARTPINE

HEARTPINEBy Katie Woods, Georgia-Pacific, Aria® Brand Team

Longleaf woods at Moody Forest Preserve. Photo by Aria® Team.

Pulling up to the nature conservancy in Georgia’s Moody its importance through history, its versatility, its long lifespan, Forest Preserve, we knew we were a long way from the busy and its home to wildlife. We love that our trees are planted in streets of Atlanta. The four-hour drive through the rain had the Desoto National Forest in southern Mississippi, and that washed away city noises and replaced leads to the restoration of a habitat right them with an unspoiled solitude. We here in the Southeast. We love being a part The Aria® Brand Team. stepped out onto the wet soil to meet of The Longleaf Alliance’s goal to achieve 8 Photo by Carol Denhof. Chuck, from The Nature Conservancy, million acres of longleaf pine by 2025, and and Carol, from The Longleaf Alliance. the impact is right here in our back yard. Our team of four isn’t a government But there was something about stepping entity, a nonprofit, or a landowner. into a longleaf pine forest for the first time. We’re a Georgia-Pacific brand team. The vastness. The ability to see out for acres. Our brand is Aria®, and we make toilet The motion flowing through it. When we paper, paper towels, and napkins. Our heard a babbling in the background, I purpose is to make great products and asked, “Is there a creek nearby?” Carol steward the earth’s resources along the smiled, “It’s the wind.” Indeed, it was way. For every one tree used in our making beautiful music as it rustled the manufacturing, we plant three longleaf leaves and bounced off the trunks, carrying pines through our partnership with The Longleaf Alliance. And a melody through the forest. on this misty Wednesday, we came to experience up close what Looking up and overhead, we saw nest cavities for the red- was just so special about the longleaf forest. cockaded woodpecker. The sap dripping down from the holes, Don’t get us wrong, the Aria® brand team knows a thing Carol explained, helped to protect our little friends from or two about the longleaf pine. What a magical tree! We love predators. One RCW flitted out, doing its signature swoop, before hiding in the canopy.

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As we marched through the stand, our eyes were drawn down to the forest floor, which teemed with beautiful autumn plants. Carol could name everything we came across, how they grew, what animals they supported, or even what they could be used for. Never have I been so amazed by the greenery beneath. We stayed on the lookout for a gopher tortoise. There were sandy burrows sprinkled around this healthy forest, but no tortoise in sight. We wondered how long we could sit and wait before one would finally crawl out of hiding. Jamie Gasparella and Even as we searched, we found Caitlin McDonald its tracks in the sand, but examining the native again no tortoise. Maybe next groundcover at Moody visit. Forest Preserve. Photo The day wrapped up with a by Aria® Team. visit to Reese Thomson’s farm. Reese has been in the business all his life and is a 6th generation tree farmer, an active conservationist, and the inventor of Burner Bob. Weaving through his properties, Reese showed us how the pine grows from grass stage to old age and how to establish its ecosystem with layers of wiregrass and pollinator plants. He showed us what fresh growth came from his recent burns. It was amazing to see Reese and Carol, a farmer and a conservationist, working together in a sort of symbiosis, targeting the same goal of keeping the longleaf alive and well. For many reasons, the longleaf pine is an impressive tree on paper. We’re so proud to be part of this partnership. But wouldn’t it be fantastic if everyone could feel the majesty of nature that a longleaf pine forest has to offer? One day, through these efforts together, we hope that more people can. The Aria® brand began with a simple mission: To make better products by harmonizing quality with sustainability. From materials through manufacturing, we looked for ways to make a difference: planting trees, energy-efficient manufacturing, plant-based packaging, renewable power, and more. If you’re interested in buying a product that supports longleaf restoration, check us out on AriaJourney.com. For every purchase made on our website, we’ll plant one extra tree through The Longleaf Alliance in addition to our ongoing efforts. Thanks for joining our Mission for Better and supporting the return of this majestic tree.

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