While still writing for The Clarion-Ledger, an editor forwarded me an e-mail that had a news release on the creation of a longleaf pine conservation bank. She included the message, “I thought you would be interested.” Well, the truth was, I wasn’t interested. At all. But that quickly changed. As I delved into my research for the story, I learned a good bit about conservation banks and how they have preserved valuable habitats in places like Florida and California. Reporting this story also gave me my first glimpse of longleaf pines as not only a tree, but a truly crucial landscape to the South.
In short, longleaf pine forests have nearly vanished. Once spanning 90 million acres from east Texas to southern Virginia, now these forests only claim 3.4 million acres. These forests are defined by the wealth of flora and fauna that occupy its understory, including numerous endangered species like the gopher tortoise and black pine snake.
After writing the story, a year or two passed. Although they sounded like a neat ecosystem to experience, I never had the opportunity to visit. I put my first foot in a longleaf pine forest in March, when my co-workers and I visited a forest created with the help of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), my current employer. It was amazing. The gopher tortoise burrows, the huge pine cones and the blanket of wildflowers and legumes was quite an experience. Check out the story that was a result of this trip.
I have visited several more longleaf forests, and I hope those are not the last.
In the meantime, the focus of my research paper for my summer course, Plan Implementation, is on planning for longleaf pine ecosystem success. I will keep you updated on how it goes.
