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Restoring longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands: Effects of restoration treatments on natural loblolly pine regeneration

Formally Refereed

Abstract

Historical land use and management practices in the southeastern United States have resulted in the dominance of loblolly pine on many upland sites that historically were occupied by longleaf pine. There is currently much interest in restoring high quality longleaf pine habitats to such areas, but managers may also desire the retention of some existing canopy trees to meet current conservation objectives.However, fast-growing natural loblolly pine regeneration may threaten success of artificially regenerated longleaf pine seedlings. We evaluated the establishment and growth of natural loblolly pine regeneration following different levels of timber harvest using single-tree selection (Control [uncut, residual BA ~ 16m2/ha]), MedBA (residual basal area of ~9m2/ha), Low BA (residual BA of ~ 6m2/ha) and Clearcut (complete canopy removal) and to different positions within canopy gaps (approx. 2800 m2) created by patch cutting at two ecologically distinct sites within the longleaf pine range: Fort Benning, GA in the Middle Coastal Plain and Camp Lejeune, NC in the Lower Coastal Plain. The density of loblolly pine seedlings was much higher at Camp Lejeune than at Ft. Benning at the end of the first growing season after harvesting. Following two growing seasons, there were no significant effects of canopy density or gap position on the density of loblolly pine seedlings at either site, but loblolly pine seedlings were taller on treatments with greater canopy removal. Prescribed fires applied following the second growing season killed 70.6% of loblolly pine seedlings at Ft. Benning and 64.3% of seedlings at Camp Lejeune. Loblolly pine seedlings were generally less than 2 m tall, and completeness of the prescribed burns appeared more important for determining seedling survival than seedling size. Silvicultural treatments that include canopy removal, such as patch cutting or clearcuts, will increase loblolly pine seedling growth and shorten the window of opportunity for control with prescribed fire. Therefore, application of prescribed fire every 2-3 years will be critical for control of loblolly pine regeneration during restoration of longleaf pine in existing loblolly pine stands.

Keywords

longleaf pine, regeneration, loblolly pine

Citation

Knapp, Benjamin O.; Wang, G. Geoff; Hu, Huifeng; Walker, Joan L.; Tennant, Carsyn. 2011. Restoring longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands: Effects of restoration treatments on natural loblolly pine regeneration. Forest Ecology and Management 262:1157-1167.
Citations
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/42342