coastal longleaf pine forests - grand bay national...

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Coastal Longleaf Coastal Longleaf Pine ForestsPine Forests

History of Longleaf PineHistory of Longleaf Pine

• Longleaf occurred on an estimated 90 million acres at its peak, dominating on an estimated 60 million acres, probably the largest area on the continent dominated by a single tree species.

americaslongleaf.org

• By the mid-1900’s, over half of that forest was gone.

• By 1995, an estimated 3 million acres remained, most of it in poor condition.

Historical AccountsHistorical Accounts

“We find ourselves on the entrance of a vast plain which extends west sixty or seventy miles.... This plain is mostly a forest of the great long-leaved pine, the earth covered with grass, interspersed with an infinite variety of herbaceous plants, and embellished with extensive savannas....” William Bartram, 1791 Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia,...


“In "pine barrens" most of the day. Low, level, sandy tracts; the pines wide apart; the sunny spaces between full of beautiful abounding grasses, Liatris, long, wand-like Solidago, saw palmettos, etc., covering the ground in garden style. Here I sauntered in delightful freedom, meeting none of the cat-clawed vines, or shrubs, of the alluvial bottoms.” - John Muir

"Not a part of this great natural wonder worthy of the name forest remains intact within the state's borders. It has been rooted out by hogs, mutilated by turpentining, cut down in lumbering, or burned up through negligence. The complete destruction of this forest constitutes one of the major social crimes of American history." B.W. Wells, ecologist, 1932

Historic Range of Longleaf PineHistoric Range of Longleaf Pine


Current Longleaf Pine StatusCurrent Longleaf Pine Status


Types of Longleaf Pine ForestsTypes of Longleaf Pine Forests


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South MS 2014South MS 2014 South MS “1814”South MS “1814”


What’s missing?What’s missing?

Fire

Adapted to burnAdapted to burn

FireFire Prescribed FirePrescribed Fire

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What else is missing?What else is missing?

Megafauna

What else is missing?What else is missing?• Prior to European

settlement, Bison roamed South MS

• All native Bison east of MS River were extirpated by 1875by 1875.

MegafaunaMegafauna“Annals of Louisiana from 1698 to 1722, by M. Penicaut” (1698), the author records the presence of the buffalo on the Gulf coast on the banks of the Bay St. Louis, as follows: “The next day we left Pea Island, and passed through the Little Rigolets, which led into the sea about three leagues from the Bay of St. Louis. We encamped at the entrance of the bay, near a fountain of water that flows from the hills, and which was called at this time Belle Fountain. We hunted during several days upon the coast of this bay, and filled our boats with the meat of the deer, buffaloes, and other wild game which we had killed, and carried it to the fort (Biloxi) ”and carried it to the fort (Biloxi).

Types of Longleaf Pine ForestsTypes of Longleaf Pine Forests


Upland Longleaf Pine ForestUpland Longleaf Pine Forest• Include montane, coastal plain, piedmont, and

Florida scrub forests


Upland Longleaf Pine ForestUpland Longleaf Pine Forest• Forest structure is similar across range but

understory grasses vary• Bluestems and Panic grasses in western ranges

• Little bluestem is predominant in south MS mesic forests


mesic forests • Wiregrasses in eastern ranges

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Upland Longleaf Pine ForestUpland Longleaf Pine Forest• Shrub layer includes blueberry/huckleberry,

yaupon, gallberry, winged sumac, wax myrtle

• Tree associations vary by soil moisture:• (from mesic to dry) Dogwood sweetgum water


• (from mesic to dry) Dogwood, sweetgum, water oak, red maple, sassafras, blackgum, persimmon, chinkapin, southern red oak, post oak, blackjack oak, turkey oak, laurel oak, bluejack oak, and sand post oak

Upland Longleaf Pine ForestUpland Longleaf Pine Forest• Shrub layer includes blueberry/huckleberry,

yaupon, gallberry, winged sumac, wax myrtle

• Tree associations vary by soil moisture:• (from mesic to dry) Dogwood sweetgum water


• (from mesic to dry) Dogwood, sweetgum, water oak, red maple, sassafras, blackgum, persimmon, chinkapin, southern red oak, post oak, blackjack oak, turkey oak, laurel oak, bluejack oak, and sand post oak

FlatwoodFlatwood Longleaf Pine ForestLongleaf Pine Forest• Shrub layer includes blueberry/huckleberry,

gallberry, wax myrtle, large gall berry, swamp titi, buckwheat tree, saw palmetto (in dryer sites)


• Tree associations:• sweetgum, water oak, red maple, blackgum,

persimmon, sweetbay

FlatwoodFlatwood Longleaf Pine ForestLongleaf Pine Forest• Forest structure is similar to upland forests (i.e.,

savannah)• Understory has fewer grasses and more shrubs


Fauna of Longleaf Pine ForestFauna of Longleaf Pine Forest• Several T&E species

• Gopher tortoise• Red-Cockaded Woodpecker• Eastern Indigo Snake• Flatwoods Salamander


Flatwoods Salamander• Fox Squirrel• Northern Bobwhite Quail• Turkey• Bachman’s Sparrow• Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

Management Challenges: WUIManagement Challenges: WUI


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Ecosystem ServicesEcosystem Services• Forest products• Carbon cycling• Critical habitat• Hydrology

MegafaunaMegafauna“Memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain,” December 10, 1697, the author, M. de Remonville, describes the country around the mouth of the Mississippi, now the State of Louisiana, and further says:

“A great abundance of wild cattle are also found there, which might be domesticated by rearing up the young calves.”

MegafaunaMegafauna

Image from palmbeachdailynews.com

Image from foresthistory.orgImage from longleafalliance.org

p y

PineywoodsPineywoods Cattle ProjectCattle Project

PineywoodsPineywoods Cattle ProjectCattle Project PineywoodsPineywoods Cattle ProjectCattle Project

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PineywoodsPineywoods Cattle ProjectCattle Project PineywoodsPineywoods Cattle ProjectCattle Project

• Cattle placed into plots late March• ~ 2.5 cattle per acre• Allowed to roam freely within plots• Provided water, mineral tub, occasional protein tub• Cattle removed late May• Cattle “vacationed” with Justin Pitts• Cattle vacationed with Justin Pitts• All cattle reintroduced into unburned plot in August• All but one cow and calf removed in October• One steer and one calf remain

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• L.S. Earley. 2006. Looking for longleaf: the fall and rise of an American forest. University of North Carolina Press (46 p.)

• B. Finch, B.M. Young, R. Johnson, and J.C. Hall. 2012. Longleaf, as far as the eye can see: a new vision of North America’s richest forest. University of North Carolina Press

Suggested ReadingSuggested Reading

y(232 p.)

• http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/palustris.htm

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