Longleaf Management

[DanG]

I went fishing yesterday.  I launched on the south shore of the Flint River arm on Lake Seminole, and motored over to the north shore of the Spring Creek arm of the lake.  To get there you go through a canal that is cut through the point formed by the convergence of the two streams.  This point of land, including the island that is isolated by the canal, is covered by one of the prettiest stands of Longleaf Pine you'll ever see. 



What makes this particular forest so nice to see is the thick blanket of wiregrass beneath the trees.  Wiregrass is the natural cohabitant in a longleaf forest in these parts, and makes an ideal partner in keeping the forest devoid of competing trees and brush.  As you can see in this next picture, about the only thing in there besides pines and sagebrush is wiregrass.  This is apparently the result of a successful attempt to cultivate the grass, as local Foresters and Botanists are putting a lot of effort into that, these days.



Now the tall wispy stuff you see there is just ordinary old sagebrush, but the wiregrass appears as many little clumps on the ground.  You can't see it as well as I had hoped.  I'll try to come up with a better pic later.

Anyway, this plantation is apparently fire-managed more intensively than most, as it is remote and surrounded by water.  The woods across the canal from the last pic had just been burned the previous day, and were still smoky, but you can see how clean the forest floor is in this next pic.  I look forward to watching and recording the regrowth of the wiregrass in there on my future trips through the canal.



BTW, the little hardwoods you see in the foreground are right up at the water's edge.  There appears to be none out among the pines.

[Texas Ranger]

and that is what it is all about.  Good post, DanG

[Tom]

I like that!!

[SwampDonkey]

That looks real nice Dang. Is it private? or State? or Industrial? I wouldn't mind owning that stand of trees. ;D

In my trip to Fl 28 years ago I saw a lot of mixed growth pine, hardwood and such and what looked like grass and saw palmento in the understory. The hardwoods were full of what looked like Spanish moss. I commented, as did mom, "that looks snaky in there". :D :D ;)

Mom and dad are down there now, heading north Friday. Mom saw a snake this trip. :D

[DanG]

I'm pretty sure it is Federal, SD.  Most everything around that lake belongs to the Corps of Engineers.

[WDH]

Fire is longleaf's friend.  Nice pics!

[SwampDonkey]

Well it's nice of them to manage the woods. Our Feds up here don't manage forest land, they are mostly a research branch of government and have occasionally cooped with silviculture funds. New Brunswick only has about 2% Federal land and they are parks and camp Gagetown. Never thought of the Corp as forest stewards.  

[DanG]

The Feds down here grow the prettiest forests of anybody, at least they look the best to the layman driving down the road.  You can drive from here to the Gulf Coast, about 65 miles, and see nothing but pristine longleaf forest for about 40 miles of it.  Down there, the wiregrass is replaced by palmetto, which also makes a good forest partner with longleaf.  The palmetto is at home in the sandy soil of the coastal plain, which starts about 7 or 8 miles south of my place.  Up here on the hill, we are in what is called the "Red Hills" region, where clay soils are dominant, and that is where the wiregrass flourishes.

[Magicman]

Many attempts have been made to successfully grow Longleaf Pine in my area, including my own.  I think that the soil just has too much clay and is too dense.

Do you have any Slash Pine in your area?  

[fishpharmer]

Nice pictures DanG!  I really like longleaf pines.

[DanG]

Yes, Longleaf, Slash, and Loblolly seem to do equally well here.  Remember those big pines that surround my mobile home?  There is about an equal mix of the three among them.  Maybe one of our Foresters can set us straight on this, but I doubt that your clay is any more dense than Red Hills clay.  Longleaf has a much smaller range than the others, and I don't have a clue as to why.  The soil types near here are about as diverse as soil types get, and they seem to thrive anywhere you put them in this area.  I haven't seen anybody planting anything else here for years, except for the paper companies.

[SwampDonkey]

Depends I suppose on the depth to the clay. In the NB lowlands the clay can be 3 feet down or right under the A horizon, within 6" of the surface. A mottled Bm horizon in our classification with pockets of pink and grays means the water table fluctuates with heavy clay in the soil. The B horizon is the bulk of the top soil. And a C horizon can mean a compacted soil layer that tree roots can't penetrate. Around here, in nature that is, the red pines are only found naturally on red clay soil. You drive down a forest road that turns to red clay (high in iron) you can spot red pines. The Tobique watershed is one area that the farm fields and forest roads are that red clay. Get any amount of rain over 1/2" and your on slime. What kind of helps it drain, is the course gravel in it. Another area is cloverdale where the farms along the Becaquimac have been long abandoned and grown in with alders, too wet unless pasture. The fir down there don't grow very well, about 10" and by then they are rotten in the middle.

[Ron Scott]

Nice! The Feds have done such a good job in their forest management since being "The Lands That Nobody Wanted" that they now have a hard time convincing many of the public that trees need to be harvested. ;)

[Texas Ranger]

And, Ron, they created all those virgin wildernesses when they did so.  A lot of the public does not have a clue.

[DanG]

I think it is just natural for Federal lands to be well maintained.  There are always forestry stations located there, and the Foresters and Rangers can keep an eye on things  better.  They have the time and money to do it, too.  Most private landowners tend to cut corners and skip important steps, for the lack of either of those.

It is also natural for most Foresters to be introspective types who had rather talk to a tree than another person. :D  Extroverts don't tend to choose careers where they spend so much time alone.  We are fortunate on this forum that not all of you guys are that way though, and the Foresters who actively participate here are providing a valuable service.  Many people, including me, have gained a layman's working knowledge of forestry related things, and we spread it to our other friends and families.  I am hoping this little thread will inspire some of you to answer some questions some of us ponder over, such as what factors limit the range of the longleaf pine, and what happened to the wiregrass that used to cover our woodland floors. :P

I am further fortunate to live in an area where public awareness seems better than in most places.  The Florida Div. of Forestry is headquartered in Tallahassee, so our local TV stations get a lot of info from them, particularly during the prescribed fire seasons.  Another thing we have is the Tall Timbers Research Station, which is a non-profit forestry research and education facility near here.  Lane Green is the head man there, and has his mug on the tv screen a lot, giving the public the true scoop on the local forestry practices and the benefits thereof.  I have a feeling that Tall Timbers had a hand in creating the forest I pictured above, and may even own it.

[RynSmith]

Well, I've always thought of longleaf as a coastal plains species whereas loblolly extended up ino the foothills.  It seems that historically slash had the smallest range, but has been helped along by us humans (as has loblolly).

These links are from a favorite source that I refer to often.

http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/elliottii.htm

http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/taeda.htm

http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/palustris.htm

[Magicman]

but I doubt that your clay is any more dense than Red Hills clay.

DanG, the difference may be that my clay has no sand in it.  It is more yellow below the topsoil and then turns bluish down deep.  My soil also has no rocks.  The creek beds are hard clay, not gravel.

[red oaks lumber]

mus not caught any fish only pictures of trees. up north trees with leaves are hardwoods trees lookin like that have needles not leafs.better luck fishin next time

[WDH]

The elimination of fire has been the demise of wiregrass.  It, like longleaf, is fire adapted.  Without fire, all the other brush and weeds out compete it and it disappears.  It cannot hang on a highly fertile site with the super-charged competition.

[Tom]

Danny, it doesn't seem to do good under traffic either.  Where I prepared the ground to plant the trees, I plowed and mowed.  The wiregrass couldn't take it.  It saddened me when I realized that I had pretty much killed it and I'm trying to let it come back in areas.  Fire would be a great help if I could burn.  Unfortunately the liability is too great here and I'm not allowed to do it myself.  I am seeing wiregrass begin to show itself again, but not in the healthy stands I once had it.

[SwampDonkey]

It's very interesting those kinds of open forest. Sometimes a hard maple forest or a stand of softwood can be fairly clean in under, but that is old forest and long lived species. Most woods are otherwise thick with undergrowth because of disturbance and cutting patterns.

[ellmoe]

Fire would be a great help if I could burn.  Unfortunately the liability is too great here and I'm not allowed to do it myself.  I am seeing wiregrass begin to show itself again, but not in the healthy stands I once had it.

   Tom, in the Cental Fla. flatwoods, burning followed by over-grazing with range cattle is the recipe to promote wiregrass. Lands originally mostly blue-stem grasslands were converted to wiregrass and palmetto's. So a little fire and a couple of bovines and you'd be "good to go"!

Mark

[WDH]

Don't smoke out Jacksonville!

[SwampDonkey]

If you decide to Tom, place some hickory on the fire. :D ;D