History of Longleaf Pine in Virginia

History of Longleaf Pine in Virginia. . , In the early 1600s, Captain John Smith and the Jamestown colonists noted long-needled pines along the south bank of the James River and recognized their potential as a valuable resource. Soon after, the first "tryalls of pitch and tar" (naval stores) was produced from these trees and exported to England. Thus began the exploitive use of longleaf pines in North America for naval stores and timber for shipbuilding and construction materials.

By 1850, perhaps 1.5 million acres of longleaf pine forests had disappeared from Virginia. In 1893, forester B. E. Fernow declared longleaf pine in Virginia to be "… for all practical purposes extinct."

In 1938, Harvard University botanist Merritt L. Fernald spent time in Isle of Wight County conducting floristic surveys. At a location south of Zuni, he discovered and documented a remnant stand of longleaf pines growing along the Blackwater River. Some 60 years later, surveys by Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) staff have identified fewer than 200 individual mature longleaf pines believed to have originated prior to 1950 and existing in natural (not planted) stands. These few trees are all that remain of Virginia's original longleaf pine forest.

In the early 2000s, VDOF and partners including Old Dominion University. The Nature Conservancy and Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation began developing a plan to ring longleaf pine forests back from the brink. Each year, cones are picked from remaining mature "native" longleaf pines and seedlings are grown for use in reforestation projects. VDOF has established a longleaf pine seed orchard at the New York Forestry Center, which will ensure an expanded supply of longleaf seedlings. VDOF is now growing "native Virginia" longleaf pine seedlings at the Garland Gray Forestry Center for distribution and sale.

Thee achievements, as evidenced by the young longleaf pines in front of you, are a testament to the decades of effort by dedicated conservationists directed at returning this iconic species to the Virginia landscape.

[Caption:] , The town of Smithfield has dedicated this area to re-introducing the longleaf pine , part of our cultural and natural heritage , for the enjoyment and education of present and future generations.

[Sidebar:] , An estimated 90 million acres of longleaf pine forest, woodlands and savannas once existed in America, extending from southeast Virginia to north Florida and on to east Texas. Today, less than three million acres remain.

The biodiversity of fire-maintained longleaf pine woodlands and savannas is extremely high, supporting far more species of plants and animals than does the unburned, mixed hardwood forest in Windsor Castle Park today. Lacking an understory, open longleaf pine canopies allow great amounts of sunlight t o reach the ground, supporting growth of grasses, legumes, composites and many other plant types. Longleaf pine itself has numerous fire-adaptations including a grass stage, thick bark, buds protected from fire damage by thick tufts of insulating needles, and rapid growth that allows terminal buds to reach a fire-safe height quickly.