Three projects across the state are receiving funds for longleaf pine ecosystem conservation and restoration through the same funding mechanism.
The public-private funds come from the NFWF’s [National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s] Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund, a fund designed to “enhance and accelerate longleaf pine ecosystem restoration across longleaf pine’s historical range.” The fund has been around since 2012 and has reportedly invested over $151 million to establish 320,000 acres of longleaf pine ecosystems and improve millions of acres of existing ecosystems. Prior to this, the NFWF ran a program called Longleaf Legacy in 2004.
The grants in Georgia are three of 25 awards this year; in total, the NFWF awarded $20 million in conservation grants, leveraging over $18.6 million in matched grants for a total of $38.6 million in longleaf landscape conservation project funding.
Longleaf pine ecosystems, marked by trees that can grow over 100 feet tall, frequent fires for ecosystem balance, and home to a number of unique species, are endemic to the Southeastern United States. Hundreds of years ago, ecosystems stretched over 90 million acres, from Virginia to Texas and as far south as Florida, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and were the dominant ecosystem of the region.
Due to deforestation for development and longleaf timber, less than 5 percent of the original 90 million acres remained intact by the 1990s, with some estimates placing the figure at around 3 million acres. The nonprofit organization The Nature Conservancy said it’s one of the most drastic ecosystem losses ever recorded, “surpassing the decline of the Amazon rainforest and almost as great as the near disappearance of North America’s tallgrass prairies.” North America has infamously lost over 99 percent of its original tallgrass prairies.
Since then, coordinated efforts have brought the acreage of these ecosystems back up to around 4.7 million acres, according to The Nature Conservancy — still a far cry from the once vast ecosystems that once inhabited the Southeast.
Below are the three projects awarded to organizations in Georgia looking to conserve and grow longleaf pine ecosystems.
“Managing and Restoring Calcareous Flatwoods and Montane Longleaf Savannas in Northwest Georgia“
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR) was awarded over $387,000 by the NFWF to restore and sustainably steward montane longleaf pine and calcareous flatwood ecosystems under the title “Managing and Restoring Calcareous Flatwoods and Montane Longleaf Savannas in Northwest Georgia.” With award matching of over $360,000, this brings the total project amount to over $747,000.
Georgia’s Berry College, in partnership with the GA DNR, was awarded $345,000 for conservation near the college. The funds to Berry College and the GA DNR seek to continue this trend of restoration through prescribed fire, invasive species control and targeted habitat management, according to Berry College.
Montane longleaf pines are a type of rare longleaf pine that are often found on “steep, south-facing, very dry slopes,” up to 2000 feet of elevation, that experience fires regularly, according to Natural Communities of Georgia. They are concentrated in northern Alabama and northwest Georgia, and while they can be found in other ecosystems, they are best known for these steep terrain ecosystems.
Calcareous flatwood ecosystems, also mentioned in the funding award announcement, are characterized by longleaf pine forests typical in flat terrain with acidic soils and wet, sometimes swampy swaths because of the flat terrain. The forest floor of these ecosystems is filled with a diverse variety of plant and animal life, including some endangered species.
“Improving Forest Habitats on Private Lands in the Upper Ocmulgee Watershed“
The Georgia Forestry Commission was awarded $1.5 million by the NFWF, with $100k in matching funds for a total of $1.6 million in project funds. This project aims to “improve management of more than 20,000 acres of longleaf pine and other pine-oak forests within the Upper Ocmulgee watershed in Georgia.”
The funds will be part of a five-year effort focused on working with landowners within a 20-county area in Central Georgia, with fund priority going to landowners with land within the Upper Ocmulgee River watershed.
Chris Howell, associate chief of Forest Management for Georgia Forestry Commission, said the organization has worked with NFWF for close to a decade through various grants, including one focused on restoration of longleaf pines in the lower Altamaha River watershed.
For this new grant focused on the Ocmulgee watershed, Howell said that much of the framework was adapted from that previous project.
“We kind of took the framework from that lower Altamaha project from several years ago, where we just targeted one specific area of the watershed, and our goal is to provide landowners various cost share and incentive opportunities to make improvements their lands through prescribed burning and management practices,” Howell said, adding that timber harvests that thin the forests to appropriate levels and removing invasive species are other activities this grant will support.
The project will also help private landowners with prescribed burns, a critical part of maintaining these ecosystems and keeping longleaf pines dominant.
Working with private landowners is critical to conserving these ecosystems because more than half of longleaf pine ecosystems today sit on private land, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission.
Howell said he hopes that the funds will be finalized and made available to landowners starting in the first quarter of 2027.
“Recovering Northern Bobwhite and Bachman’s Sparrow through Longleaf Pine Habitat Restoration”
The University of Georgia Research Foundation was awarded $1 million funds, along with $2.4 in matched funds for a total of over $3.4 million in project funds.
This project also looks to aid private landowners in stewarding the precious ecosystems, especially for the benefit of two species of birds, the Northern Bobwhite and Bachman’s Sparrow, both of which call longleaf pine habitats home. Like the other projects, prescribed fire is one of the more important tools the funds look to implement in a safe and effective way.
The aforementioned birds, like other species of the ecosystem, thrive when the pines are dominant; without fire, other species can overtake the ecosystems and cause ripple effects for both animal and plant species. Dating back to 2013, the UGA Research Foundation has done research into the ecosystems and the amount of prescribed burns that are optimal.
A group effort
The NFWF’s fund is supported by several organizations: Altria Group, Amazon Web Services, Bezos Earth Fund, Energy Transfer, International Paper, Occidental, Orton Foundation, Southern Company, U.S. Department of War, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Other entities outside of this funding mechanism are dedicated to the restoration and conservation of these unique ecosystems, such as the Longleaf Alliance, Tall Timbers and America’s Longleaf.
Great article! Thank you for it.