In 2024, the Land Trust scored big when it was awarded a very generous grant from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to begin a program in the Florida Parishes that will help restore the region’s native longleaf pine ecosystem.

In the late 19th century, about 90 million acres of longleaf forests stretched across the southeast and were the predominant native forests along the Coastal Plain from North Carolina to east Texas. Now, only a small fraction remain.

Longleaf pine are fire-dependent systems – fueled by lightning strikes and Native Americans – that created the characteristic open grasslands and wildflowers and large, straight, longleaf pines. As a result, well maintained longleaf pine forests are one of the most biodiverse of all North American forests. They house a variety of charismatic species such as quail, turkey, gopher tortoise, and red-cockaded
woodpeckers.

The Land Trust’s goal is to build upon some 30,000 acres of existing longleaf. We are working with two landowners over 5,000 acres to plant, burn, thin, and/or chemically treat their properties. An easement will be placed on 240 acres at one of the tracts.

Additionally, we’ll enlist an additional ~2,000 acres in USDA programs to restore and manage longleaf in Tangipahoa, Washington, and St. Tammany Parishes. Many funders have contributed to this program including Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Forest Service, International Paper Company, and Bezos Earth Fund. We are very grateful to these folks for recognizing the importance of this work!

While in longleaf forests in 1867, naturalist John Muir observed, “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.” We are excited for the day when the Florida Parishes landscape once again delights the beholder and abounds with all the native species that make this one of North America’s most iconic and important ecosystems!