News Releases from the Southern Research Station

Southern Research Station Employees Honored For Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Restoration Research

Asheville, NC -- The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Restoration Team was recognized by the Secretary of Agriculture at a ceremony in Washington D.C., on June 5, 2000, for outstanding research leadership in restoring the imperiled longleaf pine ecosystem of the Southeastern United States. The Longleaf Ecosystem Team was established in late 1993 to plan and conduct high priority longleaf ecosystem research and application projects. The core team, made up of scientists from the Southern Research Station and a liaison in the USDA Forest Service Southern Region-8 office in Atlanta, and Auburn University, focuses on outcomes that cut across organizational, disciplinary, and functional boundaries. Members of the team who received this national honor include Forest Service employees: Group Leader Charles McMahon, Auburn, AL; James Barnett, Pineville, LA; David Bramlett, retired, Macon, GA; William Boyer, Auburn, AL; Rodney Busby, New Orleans, LA; Noel Cost, retired, Asheville, NC; James Haywood, Pineville, LA; Kenneth Outcalt, Athens, GA; Donald Tomczak, Atlanta, GA; Dale Wade, Athens, GA; Joan Walker, Clemson, SC; and from the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences: Dean Gjerstad, Rhett Johnson, John Kush, Ralph Meldahl.

The Longleaf Ecosystem Team developed a collaborative process among scientists and managers from 12 Southern Research Station research projects, 12 national forests in 7 Southern States, the Savannah River Department of Energy site, 6 large Department of Defense bases, 3 USDI Fish and Wildlife Service refuges, the Southern group of State Foresters, The Nature Conservancy, private research foundations, 8 universities, and industrial partners including Champion International, International Paper Co., Gulf States Paper Corp., Cedar Creek Land & Timber, and the International Forest Seed Company. The shared strategic goal is to halt and reverse the precipitous decline in one of the most ecologically and economically important forest ecosystems in North America.

Longleaf pine is the key tree in what was once the most extensive forest ecosystem in North America. The fire-dependent longleaf ecosystem is recognized by ecologists as one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems found anywhere outside the tropics, supporting hundreds of plant and animal species including over 30 threatened or endangered species. A 1995 report by the National Biological Service described longleaf pine ecosystems as endangered to critically endangered. Previously spread across 92 million acres in the Southeastern United States, longleaf pine forests now cover less than 3 million acres.

Restored longleaf pine forests can provide local communities with ecological benefits and economic gains. Thus, a restoration continuum was designed to include everything from sites on which a longleaf pine overstory might be restored for commodity outputs, to sites where the full functions and processes associated with a naturally occurring longleaf pine ecosystem are restored. USDA Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck identified Longleaf restoration as a forest health success story in his testimony before Congress on June 17, 1997:

. . .We are now restoring longleaf pine on the most appropriate sites where it originally grew, working with other federal agencies, state forestry organizations and private land owners. We also are involved in cooperative research on longleaf pine ecosystems with partners such as the Longleaf Alliance, with members representing Tall Timbers Research Inc., universities, private landowners, and environmental organizations. The Forest Service is now making restoration of longleaf pine ecosystems a priority as the Southern national forests revise their land and resource management plans. Through these efforts, we are establishing new stands of longleaf pine providing a wide array of ecological, social and economic benefits . . .

In its first five years of formal organization, the Longleaf Ecosystem Team has made remarkable progress. Tangible products included a comprehensive bibliography, a state of the art assessment, a regional resource bulletin and over 75 research posters, abstracts and publications. Equally important were the formation of long-term conservation stewardship partnerships with other public and private groups interested in longleaf ecosystems. The most notable partnership is with the Longleaf Alliance, which is a university-based (Auburn University) umbrella organization that fosters education, research, and longleaf pine management on private lands regionwide. Alliance partners have published user guidebooks and hosted two regional conferences (attended by over 600 scientists and managers).