The Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF) and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) formed a partnership in 2007 to address the precipitous decline of the longleaf pine ecosystem in Alabama. The partners recognize the commonality of their mission and over the next three years will combine resources to deliver technical assistance to landowners interested in longleaf restoration. Because interest in longleaf restoration is seemingly high among landowners the AWF-NWF partnership is timely to facilitate longleaf restoration efforts.

History of Longleaf

In the historical landscape, the longleaf pine dominated the coastal plain from east Texas to southeastern Virginia and extended into the mountains of Alabama and northwest Georgia. Early accounts suggest that the longleaf pine was the dominant tree species on an estimated 60 million acres and occurred in mixed stands on another 30 million acres. Ecologists described the fire-maintained longleaf pine ecosystem as one of the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems outside the tropics, supporting hundreds of plant and wildlife species. Early explorers described the longleaf forest as being a vast open savannah dominated by “long-needled pine” and a low-growing herbaceous understory. Frequent fires ignited by lightning and native Americans were responsible for the development and maintenance of the open forest structure and biological diversity.

Longleaf Today

In the contemporary landscape, less than three million acres of the longleaf forest remain. This is a 97 percent decline from its historical range. The well documented decline has resulted from anthropogenic influences, such as forest clearing, plantation forestry, and urban development. Fire exclusion or infrequent fire regimes have contributed to the degradation of remaining forests. Longleaf pine and the plants and wildlife associated with the longleaf ecosystem are inextricably linked with fire. That is, fire allows the longleaf pine to thrive with little competition and is essential for maintaining a diverse plant and wildlife community. In the absence of frequent fire, rapid encroachment of shrubs and hardwoods occur. This limits natural regeneration of longleaf and causes a significant decline in biological diversity.

Ecosystem restoration, biological diversity conservation, and other similar paradigms are often poorly understood among landowners and land-users whose primary or only interest is game management. These paradigms are often associated with the recovery and conservation of imperiled wildlife species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and gopher tortoise, while food plots, mineral supplements and the like are associated with game management. This narrow view of game management has negative consequences because it ignores the many values and functions of ecosystems. Ecosystem management and game management are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they are highly compatible.

AWF and NWF recognize the need for collaborative solutions to longleaf restoration, and that restoration efforts should be results driven. Consequently, there will be no generic set of recommendations for longleaf restoration and management. Instead, we will use a systematic planning approach that considers landowner goals and site conditions linked to constraints on what is possible to achieve the best possible results.

For more information about the AWF-NWF longleaf restoration project, contact the Alabama Wildlife Federation at 800.822.9453 or cjenkins@alabamawildlife.org.

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