The Demise of the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem

The demise of the longleaf pine ecosystems began soon after European settlement, although some native tribes cleared land for agriculture. With settlement, logging, agricultural clearing, fire suppression, conversion to fast-growing loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii Engelm) plantations, and natural regeneration failures due to feral hogs all contributed to the decline of longleaf pine forests throughout the Coastal Plain. The degradation of the longleaf pine ecosystems was typically compounded as illustrated for the Lower Gulf Coastal Plain of Georgia and Florida in the vicinity of Thomasville and Tallahassee.

Decline of longleaf pine ecosystems in the Lower Gulf Coastal Plain

Native American activities, including the use of fire to enhance game populations and clearing for agriculture, were prevalent in the southeastern United States prior to European settlement in the late 1700s. There is substantial evidence that many native tribes and early European settlers frequently burned the forests with annual, dormant season surface fires to improve livestock forage and turpentine production (see picture on right). By the early to mid 1800s, large cotton plantations were common on the more clayey and loamy, fertile soils of the region, while the more sandy, and relatively less fertile areas of southwestern Georgia were farmed in small tracts, or left as forestland or rangeland. With the demise of the cotton industry after the Civil War, northern speculators purchased most of the large cotton plantations. Many of these landowners became interested in game bird hunting, primarily for bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). At the same time, areas not in cotton production were turpentined (see picture at left) or commercially clearcut. Because the landscape became highly fragmented and interest in quail management increased during the early twentieth century, many of these plantations continued the use of dormant season prescribed surface fires to prevent hardwood regeneration and to promote game bird habitat. During this period, the use of plowed fire breaks to limit the extent of prescribed surface fires generally increased. Finally, modern farming practices such as center-pivot irrigation, has increased agricultural production, making it more profitable to grow cotton or peanuts on an annual basis.

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