February 3, 2016 - East Texas forest landowners, consulting foresters and agency personnel from the Texas A&M Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) met January 19-21 at Rayburn Country Club, Lake Sam Rayburn, to attend the first Longleaf Academy 101 to be presented in Texas by The Longleaf Alliance.
The content rich Academy covered topics ranging from the historical and cultural significance of the longleaf pine, importance and complexity of the ecosystem to selection and planting of seedlings to producing high value poles.
The Alliance is a non-profit group that works to restore longleaf pine and its complementary, fire-dependent ecosystem throughout the longleaf range from Virginia to East Texas.
State Rep. James White spoke to the group on the initial day of the workshop expressing his enthusiasm for their efforts and offering his support when needed. Priority longleaf range counties are Angelina, Hardin, Jasper, Shelby, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, Trinity and Tyler.
Longleaf pine trees produce high value timber and longleaf pine forests represent one of the most ecologically diverse ecosystems in the world and offer native habitat to prized wildlife species like bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer and wild turkey.
The open, fragrant longleaf “piney woods” are as much a part of Southern culture and history as cornbread. Longleaf forests are truly America’s forest, literally woven into the cultural and economic fabric of our nation. Although once occupying a larger land area dominated by a single species of tree than any other forest type on the continent, the longleaf pine ecosystem has declined from an estimated high of 90 million acres to become one of the nation’s rarest ecosystems today with between 3 and 4 million acres remaining. East Texas is estimated to have had almost 3 million acres of longleaf pine –now reduced to less than 44,000 acres – less than 1.5 percent of the original acreage. In 1907 alone, 2.1 million board feet of longleaf pine were cut from East Texas forests.
The decline in mixed pine/hardwood forests and longleaf forests accelerated as forests were converted to short rotation loblolly plantations in the last 50 years. Forest conditions also changed as fire suppression intensified and controlled burning decreased.
However, land owners and agencies have developed a strong interest in bringing back longleaf pine. Increased recognition of the importance of native species and their specialized ecosystems, combined with increased threat of wild fire, have spurred an interest in re-establishing longleaf pine and its fire-dependent, fire resilient grassy understory where one can walk, and wildlife can feed, with ease rather than fighting through thickets of underbrush and briars.
Cost share programs can assist land owners with the establishment of longleaf through the Natural Resource Conservation Service and Texas A&M Forest Service.
For more information, contact Kent Evans, Texas Longleaf Implementation Team, www.txlalongleaf.com
Or The Longleaf Alliance http://www.longleafalliance.org
