Jake Stehr

November 12, 2014

LAND 7280
Longleaf Pine
The Longleaf Pine ecosystem has been an important ecosystem to the foundation of the cultures
that have developed in the South. This ecosystem was one that was founded by the ecological
repercussions of the glaciers that pushed further south into the Ohio valley. The plants that were
inclined to the warmer conditions pushed south towards the coast to survive. When the polar ice caps
began to shrink and fluctuate the conditions were favorable to the longleaf hardwood mix that native
civilizations would thrive on for years to come.
The longleaf pine forest was a complex system that was dependent upon the burnings that
would happen periodically throughout it. These fires created conditions that allowed for the removal of
plants that would further the successional order. The plants that actually developed in this niche
evolved to further thrive in these fire prone conditions. The longleaf pines needles actually promoted
the conditions favorable to the spread of fire. When these conditions occurred it allowed for the spread
of the grassland prairies as well. Many of the grasses that grow or grew in this region also aid in the
spread of fire in this region. This fire in the earliest stages of this ecology were started by lighting, but as
man learned that fire was advantageous to his wants and desires. It was important that camp sites were
kept clear through burning this reduced the risk of unexpected fires starting and endangering the lives of
the inhabitants. The Native Americans also noticed that burning reduced the biting insects that are
prevalent throughout the South, and in addition to this burning increased game and aided in ease of
travel.
As this article laments the loss of this habitat the Forestry Service has gone about it in a few
different ways. The article in some ways portrays the process of protecting these areas as cumbersome
and clumsy process. The laws and regulations that were passed didnt pay attention to the traditional
uses of the land, or the cultural associations that burning has had in the history of the South. Native
Americans and Southern Farmers have all used burning to their advantage. When Forestry Services
proscribed a no-burn policy it was actually detrimental to the longleaf pine landscape. The article further
talks about the lack of research that has been put into the well-meaning restoration and re-introduction
of this ecologically rich landscape.
The importance that the author frames the longleaf pine forest with is in direct contrast with
the efforts that are being made to save this environment. However, I find it difficult to say that as we
maintain the new forms of landscape that exist within the South that we could not create a similar
process that is changing the evolutionary forms that exist within these conditions. Though there is great
value in preserving this regions I have always had a difficult time as seeing them as a natural construct
similar to the Rocky Mountains. The longleaf pine landscape should be viewed as one of the earliest man
made or maintained landscapes in North America, or at least the South I am sure that there are those
further west. We should view these landscapes as what they are, and that is manmade or man
encouraged niches that have allowed for certain conditions that have advanced the range of specific
plants and animals.