Longleaf pine forests are one of the most biologically diverse forest types, once covering more than 90 million acres in the southern US. Today, only 3-4 million acres of longleaf forests remain.

In response, America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative was launched to restore longleaf pine to non-forested acres or acres in other forest types and improve the management of existing longleaf forests.

These longleaf forests are home to a wide variety of forest-dependent species including white-tailed deer, eastern wild turkey and bobwhite quail. In addition, these forests contain a number of at-risk species including red-cockaded woodpeckers, gopher tortoises, black pinesnakes and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, most of which have been adversely impacted by the decrease in fire-maintained forest habitat.

This project is focused on a 27-county area of south Alabama to restore and enhance longleaf forests to improve habitat for at-risk species. Counties within the project area contain habitat for 36 threatened or endangered species including 7 at-risk species associated with longleaf forests. With over 60% of the forests in Alabama owned by family forest owners, any strategy must include a focused outreach to engage private landowners.

What We’re Doing:

Our team of natural resource professionals is available to meet landowners on their property, determine their goals, develop management plans and recommendations to meet their objectives, provide technical assistance to implement any management practices, and identify available cost-share assistance programs to help fund the work.

Common management practices to restore and improve longleaf forests include harvesting existing stands, planting longleaf, thinning stands to improve forest health, using prescribed fire to control competition and improve wildlife habitat, controlling invasive species, and implementing best management practices to protect water quality and maintain roads.

Our team can also help landowners sign up for cost-share assistance available from programs like the USDA-NRCS EQIP Program that can greatly reduce the cost of implementing management practices.

As a result of this project, landowners have planted 13,717 acres of longleaf forests, implemented prescribed burning on 51,314 acres, and improved management on 13,412 acres of longleaf forests.

All services provided to landowners are FREE OF CHARGE thanks to the generous support provided by our sponsors. In addition, all information provided by landowners is CONFIDENTIAL.