2005 Longleaf Legacy Grants

The Longleaf Legacy program is focused on restoring the South's signature longleaf pine ecosystem to conserve biological diversity and sequester carbon. The following organizations were awarded Longleaf Legacy grants:

• Georgia Forestry Commission - to help restore approximately 244 acres of longleaf pine habitat by planting nearly 150,000 longleaf pines seedlings in the Dixon Memorial State Forest, which is adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. This project will also provide educational and research opportunities on longleaf pine ecosystems for students, landowners, universities, cooperative forestry organizations and the general public.
• Alabama State Parks Division - to restore 200 acres of the Gulf State Park by planting 109,000 pine seedlings to a site with storm-damaged mixed timber. The restoration of the native longleaf pine/wiregrass savannah ecosystem will revitalize native plant and animal species and further the park's educational goals.
• Mississippi State University - to encourage landowners to re-establish longleaf pine forests on an estimated 705 acres of private properties, providing ecological restoration and carbon sequestration by planting approximately 408,000 seedlings.
• Tall Timbers Research Station - to restore 150 acres of longleaf pine habitat at the Pebble Hill Plantation near Thomasville, Georgia, and at the Tall Timbers Research Station near Tallahassee, Florida. This restoration will provide long-term habitat for declining wildlife species, such as Northern Bobwhite and gopher tortoises.
• The Tukabatchee Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America - to plant longleaf pine on 42 acres of clear-cut land to enhance the 442 acres of longleaf pine that occupy a significant portion of this 744 acre Warner Scout Reservation. This project will also help restore the canebrake pitcher plant ecosystem in these same areas.
• The National Wild Turkey Federation, Inc. - to return approximately 250 acres of current loblolly pine and mixed hardwood timber to longleaf pine habitat on the Corps of Engineers-managed land at Lake Allatoona in Georgia.
• The Nature Conservancy of Florida - to restore longleaf pine habitat on 168 acres of the Perdido River Nature Preserve near Pensacola, Florida. A restored longleaf ecosystem will provide a healthier, more productive, and more diverse forest system and will complement the Nature Conservancy's program to restore this native ecosystem on a large scale in the panhandle.
• The Nature Conservancy of Georgia - to restore approximately 600 acres of longleaf pine habitat in Coffee and Early Counties, Georgia. This project will not only plant longleaf pine trees on 300 acres of the Nature Conservancy Broxton Rocks and Shackleford Landing properties, but also it will greatly expand the harvesting and planting of wiregrass and other native herbs, as well as re-establish prescribed fire to maintain proper habitat balance.
• The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division - to expand their longleaf pine ecosystem restoration project at the Mayhaw Wildlife Management Area. This project will restore 80 acres of habitat by planting longleaf trees in small to medium size gaps in the existing wildlife management area. In addition, the project will promote the development of a groundcover market for wiregrass seeds and plugs through incentive payments to landowners for growing season burns.
• Berry College - to establish longleaf pine habitat on 60 acres of pine forest that were damaged by southern pine beetle infestation. This project will also help restore about 10 acres in the 160 acres of existing longleaf stands, which contain some relic longleaf trees dating back to the late 1700s to early 1800s, in order to promote natural longleaf pine regeneration. This project will also provide hands-on education and research opportunities for the students and others at the college.