History and Sustainability of the Long Leaf Pine

Long Leaf Pine (Pinus palustris) is a tall pine that can grow up to 100 feet in height. It is native to the southeastern U.S and found along the coast of East Texas, extending into northern and central Florida.  In the 1900’s sadly many were cut down, and now, per the Conservation status, it is considered an endangered species. 

In 2013 my husband became a member of the Longleaf Alliance organization.  He noted the concern for sustainability of the Long Leaf pine, so our first planting began. The following year, he planted another 20.

In 2021 Hurricane Ida made her way through Louisiana and, on our property alone, around 150 trees that included approximately 100 pines, were sadly uprooted. Soon after, my husband began to replace the lost trees and chose to continue the planting of the Long Leaf pine.  He continues to receive updates on the restoration of the Long Leaf Pine. To date, he has planted over 100 trees to not only replace the pines and also chose to replace the  old oak trees that were uprooted. The first three years the pine trees’ growth is slow, establishing their roots.   

And here we are in the year 2025 and they have had a growth spurt and some, in gratitude, have sap on them.  This pine is drought, wind, pest and the best part, fire-resistant.  It has a distinctive correlation with fire since it promotes fire in a fire-dependent environment.  The bark of the tree is red-brown as well as thick and scaly. The needles are a beautiful green and are mostly in bundles of three and often twisted and around 7-17 inches in length. 

In Rockingham, North Carolina the pine needles are up to 24 inches in length.  There are only two Southeastern U.S pines with long needles, the other being the Slash Pine Pinus elliottii which is a fast growing conifer native to the southeastern US.

The cones are both female (ovulate strobili) and male (staminate strobili), begin during the growing season before the buds emerge. Pollen cones start forming in their buds in July, while the seed conelets are formed during a short period of time in August. In the following Spring pollination occurs, with the male cones being around 1 1/4 -3+1/4 inches long. The female (seed) cones which, when mature, are yellow brown in color, mature in about 20 months from pollination.  Once they mature, they can be anywhere from 6-9 feet long and 2-2 3/4 broad and opening to 4 plus inches.  They will have a smal, but sharp downward-pointing spine on the middle of each scale.  The seeds are around ¼-3/8 inches long with a 1 to 1 5/8 wing. 

In about 100-150 years they will reach full maturity and can live up to 500 years. They grow best in well-drained and usually sandy soil.  Longleaf pine also is known as being one of several species grouped as a southern yellow pine[10] or longleaf yellow pine, and in the past as pitch pine (a name dropped as it caused confusion with pitch pine, Pinus rigida).

The species epithet palustris is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.[11] The scientific name meaning "of marshes" is a misunderstanding on the part of Philip Miller, who described the species, after seeing longleaf pine forests with temporary winter flooding.

The rich ecosystem now has been relegated to less than 5% of its resettlement range due to fire suppression and clear-cutting practices.

As they stripped the woods of their trees, loggers left mounds of flammable debris that frequently fueled catastrophic fires, destroying both the remaining trees and seedlings. The exposed earth left behind by clear-cutting operations was highly susceptible to erosion, and nutrients were washed from the already porous soils. This further destroyed the natural seeding process. At the peak of the timber cutting in the 1890s and first decade of the new century, the longleaf pine forests of the Sandhills were providing millions of board feet of timber each year. The timber cutters gradually moved across the South.  By the 1920s, most of the "limitless" virgin longleaf pine forests were gone.

Efforts are being made to restore longleaf pine ecosystems within their natural range. Some groups such as the Longleaf Alliance are actively promoting research, education, and management of the longleaf pine.  We as individuals can do our part by planting more trees.  The USDA offers cost-sharing and technical assistance to private landowners for longleaf restoration through the NRCS Longleaf Pine Initiative. Similar programs are available through most state forestry agencies in the long leaf’s native range. In August 2009, the Alabama Forestry Commission received $1.757 million in stimulus money to restore longleaf pines in state forests. The nursery where we obtained our trees in Deritter Louisiana sells thousands and thousands of these trees yearly.  They are not costly, which allows individuals to do their part in re-establishing these beautiful conifer trees.

Four large core areas within the range of the species provide the opportunity to protect the biological diversity of the coastal plain and to restore wilderness areas east of the Mississippi River.[20] Each of these four (Eglin Air Force Base: 187,000+ ha; Apalachicola National Forest: 228,000+ ha; Okefenokee-Osceola: 289,000+ ha; De Soto National Forest: 200,000+ ha) have nearby lands that offer the potential to expand the total protected territory for each area to well beyond 500,000 acres. These areas would provide the opportunity not only to restore forest stands, but also to restore populations of native plants and animals threatened by landscape fragmentation.

Notable eccentric populations exist within the Uwharrie National Forest in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. These have survived owing to relative inaccessibility, and in one instance, intentional protection in the 20th century by a private landowner (a property now owned and conserved by the Land Trust for Central North Carolina).

“The United States Forest Service is conducting prescribed burning programs in the 258,864-acre Francis Marion National Forest, located outside of Charleston, South Carolina. They are hoping to increase the longleaf pine forest type to 44,700 acres (181 km2) by 2017 and 53,500 acres (217 km2) in the long term. In addition to longleaf restoration, prescribed burning will enhance the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers' preferred habitat of open, park-like stands, provide habitat for wildlife dependent on grass-shrub habitat, which is very limited, and reduce the risk of damaging wildfires”. 

In the 1960’s, the restoration of the longleaf pine has been an ongoing project. The restoration has occurred on almost 95,000 acres of state and federal land in the sandhills region of South Carolina, between the piedmont and coastal plain. The region is characterized by deep, infertile sands deposited by a prehistoric sea, with generally arid conditions. By the 1930s, most of the native longleaf had been logged for building since the wood is hard and great for building purposes.  Unfortunately, this caused heavy erosion of the land. Between 1935 and 1939, the federal government purchased large portions of this area from local landowners as a relief measure under the Resettlement Administration. These landowners were then resettled on more fertile land elsewhere. Today, the South Carolina Sand Hills State Forest comprises about half of the acreage, and half is owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as the adjacent Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. At first, restoration of forest cover was the goal. Fire suppression was practiced until the 1960s, when prescribed fire was introduced on both the state forest  and the Sandhills as part of the restoration of the longleaf/wiregrass ecosystem.

Nokuse Plantation is a 53,000-acre private nature preserve located around 100 miles east of Pensacola, Florida. The preserve was established by M.C. Davis, a wealthy philanthropist who made his fortune buying and selling land and mineral rights, and who has spent $90 million purchasing land for the preserve, primarily from timber companies. One of its main goals is the restoration of longleaf pine forest, to which end he has had 8 million longleaf pine seedlings planted on the land.

A 2009 study by the National Wildlife Federation says that longleaf pine forests will be particularly well adapted to environmental changes caused by climate disruption. 

In 2023, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation announced a plan to reintroduce longleaf pines to the Dendron Swamp Natural Area Preserve, with seedlings propagated from cones collected at South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve.

If we all do our part, we can help to reforest these great trees and be a part of sustaining a valuable part of our ecosystem.  The benefits include carbon sequestration, improving air and water quality, and habitat restoration. Trees also play a vital role in climate regulation and preventing soil erosion. 

The therapeutic benefits of the long leaf pine include as an anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-stress as well as sedative effects.  If you come across an essential oil, ensure that there is a GC/MS (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry) analysis report on site.  It’s rare you will find an essential oil of this pine.

Additional information:

Scientific name: Pinus palustris

Conservation status: Endangered species

Class: Pinopsida

Order: Pinales

Family: Pinaceae

Genus: Pinus

Division: Pinophyte

Resources:  

1.       https://app.betterunite.com/THELONGLEAFALLIANCE-thelongleafalliancespringonlineauction-1?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadNPyql84W18Ry3ScxlNQdpWOep4q-pEIrX7aVSA9itapo5Z4xzMNFEWb-3GA_aem_4_xT-ijVtYNpNeYkAxy7Yw 

2.       Farjon, A. (2013). "Pinus palustris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T39068A2886222. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T39068A2886222.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.

3.       "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 28 March 2022.

4.        "Longleaf Pine Range Map". The Longleaf Alliance. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.

5.        "Official Emblems and Symbols, Tree, Southern Longleaf Pine". archives.alabama.gov. Alabama Department of Archives and History. Archived from the original on 18 August 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2020.

6.        Thomas M. Bonnicksen (7 February 2000). America's Ancient Forests: From the Ice Age to the Age of Discovery. John Wiley & Sons. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-471-13622-4.

7.        Coker, William C. Ph.D.; Totten, Henry R. Ph.D. (1945). Trees of the Southeastern States. Chapel Hill, No. Carol.: Univ. No. Carol. Press. p. 19.

8.       "Longleaf Pine Forests". www.nclongleaf.org. Retrieved 2 October 2020.

9.       Wahlenberg, W.G. (1946). "Chapter 4: Role of Fire in Regeneration of Longleaf Pine". Longleaf Pine: Its Use, Ecology, Regeneration, Protection, Growth, and Management. Washington, D.C.: Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation. pp. 57–67. Retrieved 20 August 2023 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.

10.   Peet, R. K. and D. J Allard. 1993. Longleaf pine vegetation of the southern Atlantic and eastern Gulf coast regions: a preliminary classification. pp. 45–81. In S. M. Hermann (ed.) Proceedings of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference. No. 18. The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem: Ecology, Restoration, and Management. Florida: Tall Timbers Research Station.

11.   Keddy, P.A., L. Smith, D.R. Campbell, M. Clark and G. Montz. 2006. Patterns of herbaceous plant diversity in southeastern Louisiana pine savannas. Applied Vegetation Science 9:17-26.

12.   "Longleaf Pine Forests and Longleaf Alliance Home". Longleaf Alliance. Retrieved 4 April 2009.

13.   "Stimulus to fund repopulation of longleaf pines in Alabama". The Birmingham News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2009.

14.   Keddy, P.A. 2009. Thinking big: A conservation vision for the Southeastern coastal plain of North America. Southeastern Naturalist 8: 213-226.

15.   "Refuge to Begin Conducting Prescribed Burns in February" (PDF). United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 14 December 2011.

16.   "Restoring roots of Southeast: Environmental benefits, quality of wood touted". The (Charleston, SC) Post and Courier. 12 December 2009. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2009.

17.   Frankel, Todd C. (31 March 2021). "The 'brown gold' that falls from pine trees in North Carolina". Washington Post. Retrieved 1 April 2021.

18.   "Southern Longleaf Pine". Official Symbols and Emblems of Alabama. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2009.

19.   "North Carolina General Statutes - § 149-2|"A Toast" to North Carolina". www.ncleg.net. 1957. Retrieved 28 April 2022.

20.   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6844839/