Longleaf Pine: Living and Dying with Fire

Longleaf pine forests have all the same basic survival needs that other forests do — nutrients, air, sunlight and rain. But they have an additional, peculiar requirement. Longleaf needs fire. Fire is the lifeblood of these complex ecosystems. Without it, these magnificent pine forests will often become something else entirely. Over time, other pine or hardwood trees displace most of the fire-adapted longleaf. In the past, wildfire would run through these forests every few years, started by lightning or, more recently, Native Americans. Unsurprisingly, lightning occurs more often in the southeast coastal plain — the native range of longleaf — than anywhere else in the US. But wildfires today are quickly suppressed, and what’s left of these forests is at risk. Without consistent wildfire, these forests require prescribed burns to stay alive and healthy. Longleaf lives to burn. Without fire, many of these forests would struggle to survive.

Of course there’s no forest without trees, and longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) are something to behold. Their defining characteristic and namesake is the leaves, which are actually needles. These shiny green needles are usually clustered in a trio and can be more than 15 inches in length. Normally they’ll live for 2 growing seasons before falling to the forest floor. The cones, which open up and fall in late autumn, are exceptionally…