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| | The Longleaf Alliance has a wide variety of resources and information related to longleaf protection and restoration. This page presents some additional resources with an emphasis on management. Tools and Links Management
Forest Type Descriptions
Forest Health
General Links
Wildlife
Discussion ^
Longleaf pine was once the dominant tree species on 60 million acres and one of a mix of species on an additional 30 million acres. Its range spread along the coastal plain from Texas to Virginia and across the mountains of Alabama and Georgia. Today longleaf pine is found on a small faction of its former range, perhaps as little as 3%. Longleaf pine ecosystems provide habitat for numerous plants and animals which are imperiled by loss of habitat, including the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman’s Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, and the Gopher Tortoise.
Longleaf pine forests are archetypal examples of fire dependent ecosystems. Historically, longleaf systems burned every two to five years in the spring or early summer. Longleaf pine regeneration demonstrates its adaptation to frequent, low-intensity fires. Longleaf seeds require mineral soil to generate, which fire provides. Then longleaf seedlings go into a grass stage that lasts at least 2 years. During the grass stages seedlings are essentially stemless and flush to the ground. In the grass stage seedlings develop an extensive root system and the bud is insulated from fire by clusters of long needles. Early fires during the grass stage help protect the longleaf seedlings from Brown Spot, a needle blight that can cause widespread mortality in fire excluded stands. With sufficient energy stores created in the grass stage, longleaf seedlings then enter the rocket stage where vertical height growth can approach 4 feet per year. This stage allows seedlings to quickly move their meristems out of reach of fire, and is the only time these trees are moderately susceptible to fire damage. After that time longleaf becomes very fire resistant. Generally, longleaf is a long-lived species and live 300 to 400 years. Although less susceptible to southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) than other southern pines, longleaf can be a attacked by black turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus terebrans) and a variety of Ips bark beetles.
Management
A great deal of research has gone into maintaining and restoring longleaf pine ecosystems (see links above) . When longleaf stands exist, allowing or re-establishing fires natural role is a crucial element in restoration. A shelterwood system with preparatory cut followed by a seed cut can provide both enough seeds and enough light for good regeneration. Where longleaf restoration requires planting, competing vegetation must be controlled in addition to re-introducing fire. While prescribed fire can control woody competition in an established longleaf stand, it generally cannot remove existing hardwoods in a longleaf restoration. This competition must be controlled initially with either herbicides or mechanical treatments. . On some sites it may even be necessary to consider to use herbicides to control non-native grasses such as Bermuda and bahia.
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