2011 Longleaf Legacy Grants

The Longleaf Legacy program is focused on restoring the South's signature longleaf pine ecosystem to conserve biological diversity and sequester carbon. The following organizations were awarded new Longleaf Legacy grants in 2011:

• The Nature Conservancy - to leverage an existing partnership with the Army to create a landscape-scale initiative with multiple stakeholders including Fort Benning and the surrounding area in west Georgia. The project will involve land protection, restoration and management of the longleaf pine ecosystem, eventually protecting 30,000 acres; promotion of public acceptance of longleaf protection and management strategies; development of scientific expertise to guide land protection, restoration and management; and creation of a model landscape for implementing the America's Longleaf Conservation Plan.
• The Orianne Society - to support an ongoing effort to restore longleaf on the Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve (OISP) and the surrounding area in south Georgia. The Orianne Society will prepare land for longleaf restoration on an estimated 6,500 acres per year for two years. Of that total acreage, 520 acres of the OISP will be replanted with longleaf pine and native groundcover, and the area will be maintained in perpetuity through prescribed burning and other land management practices.
• Florida Forest Service - to increase the acreage of healthy longleaf pine ecosystems in Florida by helping non-industrial private forest landowners make the long-term investment required to establish and maintain this valuable ecosystem. It is anticipated that 4,000 acres of private lands will be treated with a variety of longleaf ecosystem enhancements, including planting more than 1 million longleaf trees, applying prescribed fire, conducting mechanical underbrush reduction techniques, improving timber stands, establishing native understory vegetation and treating noxious invasive weed species in existing longleaf pine stands.
• Georgia Forestry Commission - to assist 300 Natural Resource Conservation Service-Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program contracts. Foresters will makes sure all phases of reforestation occur, including site preparation, tree planting (and seedling care) and post-planting treatments where needed. More than 21,000 acres of longleaf will be planted during this part of the project. Technical service also will be provided to landowners with existing longleaf pine or suitable sites for establishment. This service will be provided via forest stewardship plans, primarily through contracting with consulting foresters throughout the priority area. More than 10,000 acres of longleaf sites will be evaluated and specific management and reforestation technical advice will be provided.
• Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC) - to restore approximately 179 acres of longleaf pine and associated wildlife habitat. MFC will conduct outreach to identify private landowners who want to restore longleaf on their property. Working with partners such as the Mississippi State University Extension, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the U.S. Forest Service, MFC will inform landowners in the longleaf range about how managing longleaf pine and the complementing understory can provide both economic and wildlife habitat diversity value. Additional work will include assisting landowners with site preparation prescriptions and recommendations, identifying potential vendors to perform the work and assisting in planting and survival checks.

In addition, The Longleaf Alliance Inc. will receive additional funding for its current Longleaf Legacy grant to support restoration of longleaf pine on 340 acres of the Nokuse Plantation in Florida, a priority area for longleaf restoration within the GCPEP landscape.

And continuing support is being provided under Longleaf Legacy grants originally made in 2010 to The Nature Conservancy in Florida and the National Wildlife Federation in Alabama for longleaf pine restoration projects in those states.

The Private Landowner Technical Assistance Program supports field biologists and other habitat professionals working with U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) field offices, providing technical assistance to private landowners to optimize wildlife conservation on private lands. Additional projects under this program supported by Longleaf Legacy include

• Georgia Department of Natural Resources - to fund two DNR wildlife biologists located in NRCS offices in Albany and Fitzgerald, Ga. These biologists will provide technical guidance to landowners on the establishment and management of longleaf pine forests and associated native early succession ground cover. Habitat gains and representative avian response to these practices will be monitored on a sample of project sites.
• The Longleaf Alliance Inc. - to conduct landowner workshops and training programs for natural resource professionals, and employ two longleaf delivery specialists to target priority areas in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. These specialists will work with NRCS to plant 1,200 acres of longleaf, apply prescribed burns on 1,800 acres, and treat 600 acres for invasive species. These efforts will contribute to the range-wide effort to restore the longleaf ecosystem.