The native longleaf pine tree once covered East Texas, but now loblolly and slash pines reign supreme over the region. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) launched the national Longleaf Pine Initiative to help restore longleaf pine trees from Texas to Florida, which once covered 90 million acres. Only an estimated 3 percent of these forests remain today.
Working alongside NRCS, Simon Winston of Winston 8 Ranch of Nacogdoches, is one landowner who is doing his part to help restore longleaf pine to its native habitat. In turn, his stewardship efforts are also benefiting native grasses and wildlife populations, according to the USDA.
The start-up cost for longleaf pines is pricey, with seedlings costing more than other pine varieties, as well as site preparation, which is a vital for establishment of the trees. Through NRCS’s initiative, landowners can receive financial assistance.
NRCS and its many conservation partners are working to reverse the century-long decline in longleaf pine forests through America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative. Earlier this week, NRCS joined fellow partners in this initiative to mark the five-year anniversary of creation of the initiative’s Rangewide Conservation Plan for Longleaf Pine.