Longleaf Pine Forests
SELC is working with a regional coalition to bring longleaf back from the brink. Though they once covered more than 90 million acres on the southern coastal plain, longleaf pine forests occupy less than 4 percent of this range today. What we’ve lost is an ecological treasure chest. Nearly 900 plant species are found in longleaf forests and nowhere else, and more than two dozen federally protected species depend on this vanishing ecosystem. SELC is playing a key coordinating role in America’s Longleaf, an initiative to restore the longleaf pine forest across its range. A collaboration of government agencies and nonprofit groups, America’s Longleaf is promoting restoration on both public and private lands and will combine range-wide conservation strategies with place-based projects.
