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Restoring Longleaf Pine Through Uneven-age Management
| Name | Robert M. Franklin | | Situation | Longleaf pine once dominated 7.6 to 9.5 million acres of South Carolina landscapes. Today, less than 300,000 acres remain. Many landowners within the natural range of longleaf wish to restore this forest to their land. However, they are concerned that they will forego timber revenue for twenty years or more if they harvest their existing pine forests and replant with longleaf. They also want to restore ecological values associated with the longleaf pine forest. | | Response | In response to this interest, the area agent collaborated with the partners in the Lowcountry Forest Conservation Partnership and with the Forested Flyways Program with the American Forest Foundation (AFF) to host a Forested Flyways/Conservation Forestry Field Day at Hasty Point Plantation in Georgetown County on June 25, 2005. The purpose of the
program was to show landowners how they could gradually restore longleaf and associated habitat to their land without foregoing periodic timber revenue. Topics covered during the field day included; How to Underplant Longleaf Pine in Loblolly Pine Stands; The Economics of Transitioning Loblolly Pine to Longleaf Through Underplanting; The Use of Growing Season Prescribed Fire and Controlling Hardwood Brush with Herbicides. All of these topics covered aspects of gradually replacing your existing
loblolly pine forest with an uneven-age forest of longleaf pine while
continuing to receive periodic revenue from timber harvest and maintaining associated habitat values. | | Impact | Seventy-three landowners who own more than 55,000 acres of land in the Lowcountry and PeeDee regions of South Carolina attended the field day. All who attended commented favorably on the program and most plan on using at least some of the ideas learned in the program. A post-program evaluation is being sent to the field day participants by AFF and Clemson.
Actual program impact will be reported at a later date. As an added part of the program, a conservation forestry sign recognition program was started in partnership with the American Forest Foundation. If a landowner has a written forest management plan and was using a minimum of two out of eight listed conservation forestry practices, they received a sign to place on their land. The purpose of the recognition program is two-fold. First, to recognize those landowners who are currently doing an outstanding job of land stewardship. Second, to use the signs to increase public awareness of conservation forestry and its importance. Nineteen
landowners at the field day received these signs. They practice conservation forestry on more than 13,000 acres of land in the state. |
Last update5/9/2008
This website is maintained by Amy West.
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