Taproots Journal

Tell You What: My Blog

Jan. 13, 2024

“Longleaf pine certainly is special as a tree species… But the big story is the longleaf ecosystem, and the diversity and resilience of the system.”

Carol Denhof, president of the Longleaf Alliance

By Rob Shapard

For folks who are intrigued by the longleaf pine ecosystem but don’t know much about it yet, The Forest that Fire Made: An Introduction to the Longleaf Pine Forest (UGA Press, 2023) is a great starting point.

Co-authors Carol Denhof, John McGuire and Byron Levan wrote the book primarily for a general audience, a different approach from texts that offer detailed technical and scientific guidance for growing longleaf pine and restoring its ecosystem.

The four chapters cover the key characteristics of this pine species; describe natural and human histories related to longleaf; highlight the diverse creatures and plants within the ecosystem; and identify places across the American South where you can experience thriving longleaf forests.

“Kids are taught about the tropical rainforests and the diversity there, the insects and plants that people don’t even know exist,” said Denhof, a plant ecologist and president of the non-profit Longleaf Alliance. “But so many people don’t know anything about the longleaf forest, which, for many of us in the Southeast, is in our backyard.

“Providing that education was an important part of doing this book,” she said, in the interview with me posted below.

The authors hope the book serves in part as a field guide for people exploring such forests. For example, readers can turn to the third chapter, “Flora and Fauna of the Longleaf Forest,” to find details on plants and animals that they spot within a stand of longleaf.

“So, if you were walking on a trail in a longleaf forest and you saw a certain bird or mammal or plant, you could reference this book and have it help identify what you’re seeing,” Denhof said.

The book is accessible, concise, and well-illustrated with photographs and drawings. These images are especially valuable in the third chapter about flora and fauna because they visually illustrate the rich diversity of life within the longleaf ecosystem. The images are a way of explaining what “biodiversity” means in this system.

Another important aspect is the book’s explanation of the essential role of prescribed, low intensity fires in restoring and maintaining longleaf and the biodiversity of which it is a part.

The reality is that, today, even more controlled burning in longleaf stands is needed than is happening currently; at the same time, longleaf advocates know very well that fires and smoke understandably can alarm and/or aggravate people living nearby. Making a compelling case for prescribed burning in longleaf is a constant challenge, and the argument for fire is central in The Forest that Fire Made (I mean, it’s in the title and everything).

It is not at all surprising that many people today have limited knowledge of longleaf forests and matters such as controlled burns, considering that past human activities nearly wiped out longleaf across its range in the South.

Evolving over millennia, the longleaf pine species and ecosystem came to comprise tens of millions of acres within its historical range between modern-day Texas and Virginia, primarily in coastal-plain regions. Naturally occurring fires maintained the primacy of longleaf across its range and made the ecosystem’s diverse plant and animal life possible.

“By all accounts the domain of longleaf pine was vast,” the authors relate in the book. “These forests were seen in nine states, [and] with the exception of occasional rivers, swamps, and Native American agroforestry fields, this forest stretched as far as the eye could see.”

Indians in the Southeast burned the groundcover within longleaf forests and used resources such as wildlife and wood. But European colonists and their descendants used longleaf on a scale that became much larger and destructive over time.

People hacked and tapped longleaf to make naval stores and cut trees for lumber, beginning in the early colonial period. Longleaf was still plentiful well into the nineteenth century; but then the most intensive period of timbering in longleaf occurred between the 1880s and early 1920s. By the mid-1900s, longleaf remained within just five percent or so of its historical range.

However, foresters, conservationists, and other advocates at that time fortunately did enough to prevent the elimination of this pine species altogether.

And the longleaf that remained was a foundation for the determined work by advocates in recent decades to restore a greater portion of these forests. They have built strong partnerships to help fund and support landowners in planting and growing longleaf, and in restoring more of the longleaf groundcover and wildlife habitat, with America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative as the umbrella organization.

The Forest that Fire Made is like an invitation to becoming an ally in this restoration work, even from a distance; or like an open door to discovering all the life and beauty in longleaf forests and appreciating them more fully.

—> Carol Denhof talked with me about her interests and connections to longleaf; the approach to the book; and some of the key challenges in longleaf restoration. Please find the interview here.

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And if you find yourself pining to learn more…

Some helpful links:

The Forest that Fire Made: An Introduction to the Longleaf Pine Forest (link)

The Longleaf Alliance (link)

America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative (link)

Source list from the N.C. Botanical Garden (link)

The Jones Center at Ichauway (link)

Tall Timbers (link)

Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge (link)

Moody Forest Natural Area (link)

My favorite books on longleaf:

Earley, Lawrence S. Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest (link).

Finch, Bill, Beth Maynor Young, Rhett Johnson, and John C. Hall. Longleaf, Far as the Eye Can See: A New Vision of North America’s Richest Forest (link).

Neel, Leon, Albert G. Way, and Paul Sutter. The Art of Managing Longleaf: A Personal History of the Stoddard-Neel Approach (link).

Ray, Janisse. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (link).

Way, Albert G. Conserving Southern Longleaf: Herbert Stoddard and the Rise of Ecological Land Management (link).

A few more good ones:

Hickman, Nollie. Mississippi Harvest: Lumbering in the Longleaf Pine Belt, 1840-1915 (link).

Jose, Shibu, Eric Jokela, and Debora L. Miller, eds. The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem: Ecology, Silviculture, and Restoration (link).

Kirkman, Katherine L. and Steven B. Jack, eds. Ecological Restoration and Management of Longleaf Pine Forests (link).

Latham, Den. Painting the Landscape With Fire: Longleaf Pines and Fire Ecology (link).

Outland, Robert B. III. Tapping the Pines: The Naval Stores Industry in the American South (link).

Sturkey, William. Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White (link).