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“Rehabilitation” of this longleaf stand, with loblolly pine encroachment, is underway. Suella has completed the site’s first prescribed fire in less than a year of property ownership. Photo by Laci Smitherman of Georgia-Alabama Land Trust.
LANDOWNER CORNER
By Suella McCrimmon
Planning FOR LONGLEAF
As a child in the backseat, I rode with my father and uncles to see Jim Fowler’s pine trees. Mr. Fowler was their cousin, and in the mid-twenties, began growing slash pine as a crop in Treutlen County, Georgia. He and Dr. Charles Herty, the chemist who developed newsprint from wood pulp, were actively interested in pines. In 1933, the Soperton News of Treutlen County printed on the first newsprint manufactured from wood pulp. The wood was from Jim Fowler’s trees. The trees I saw impressed me because they were planted in well-defined rows. That trip sparked my interest in pines. When I see pictures of young children surrounded by pines, I remember. For more than 20 years, I lived in Emanuel County, Georgia, where pines covered approximately two-thirds of the land area. As a retired teacher, I enrolled in forestry classes at the local technical school and read Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest by Larry
Early. Emanuel County was named on the first page of Mr. Early’s book. Longleaf pine became my favorite tree, and I quickly learned about its rich ecology and history. The wood of longleaf is high-quality, dense, resinous, and strong. Poles are the most valuable of its wood products. Because the taproot is long and grows straight down, longleaf is drought resistant. It is also resistant to many of the diseases and insects which plague other southern pines. Fire clears competing vegetation, allows seedlings to sprout, and facilitates the return of vegetation natural to a longleaf forest. Longleaf is, in fact, fire-friendly. At the time of European settlement, there were approximately 90 million acres of longleaf along the Eastern seaboard and northern Gulf Coast. Longleaf pine had a decided influence on southern history. In 2010, I planted longleaf on family property in Treutlen County, Georgia, but that planting was unsuccessful. A local producer of longleaf seedlings visited the site and explained [ 22 ]
