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For Immediate Release
January 19, 2017
Contact: R. Kavanaugh Breazeale, Public Affairs Officer
Phone: (601)965.5205 Ext. 134
Email: Robert.k.breazeale@ms.usda.gov
Deadline: February
17th for Landowners Wanting Assistance in Planting Longleaf
Jackson, Miss. – Mississippi landowners wanting
to create or restore longleaf pine stands can apply for financial assistance
with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The deadline to apply
is February 17th.
USDA NRCS today announced
funding is available to aid forest managers working to restore longleaf
ecosystems on private lands in nine states.
Longleaf pine forests nearly vanished, but a coordinated conservation
effort, led by USDA and other conservation partners, is helping this unique
ecosystem of the Southeast recover.
NRCS’ Longleaf Pine Initiative
(LLPI), now in its seventh year, has helped restore more than 350,000 acres of
longleaf forests. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to help
landowners and land managers plant longleaf as well as manage longleaf forests
through practices like prescribed burning.
The Longleaf Pine Initiative is
offered under the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) to landowners in
Central and Southern Mississippi with multiple resource management concerns.
Longleaf pines provide valuable forest products, pine straw production, scenic
beauty, good wildlife habitat and harbor many threatened and endangered
species. Longleaf pine is also the best tree species to use in a silvopasture
system. These forests are home to some of the most diverse plant communities in
the South.
Landowners in Mississippi have
realized the economic value of a pole size longleaf pine stand. The price the
landowners are receiving for their high-quality, straight-grained dimensional
lumber and their long straight poles and pilings is attracting more people to
plant longleaf pines. Timber buyers recognize the quality of these trees and
are paying top prices for the products.
Recent nursery and
silvicultural improvements have improved the quality of longleaf seedlings and
reduced the amount of time it takes to get the seedlings up and out of the
grass stage. These improvements allow the longleaf pine to compete with the
early growth rates of other Southern pines.
Longleaf pine is more resistant
to insect and disease pests such as Southern pine beetles and fusiform rust
than other Southern pines. Longleaf pine is also more resistant to fire than
other Southern pines and can be burned at an early age maintaining early
successional habitat, benefitting many wildlife species like bobwhite quail.
The longleaf pines produce
longer needles that are preferred landscape mulch, and the sale of pine straw
provides a steady source of income from these stands. Longleaf pine needles are
longer and easier to bale, last longer than other mulches and have a
distinguished red color that enhances the landscape. Some landowners report they are making more
money from selling pine straw than selling timber. This could also provide an
additional source of income for a small forest landowner.
Finally, longleaf pine is the
best species to use in a silvopasture system due to the smaller crown density,
which allows more sunlight to filter through the tree crown canopy to the grass
below. The deadline to apply is February
17th.
For additional information
about the Longleaf Pine Initiative, visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/. To find your local NRCS office, visit http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=MS&agency=NRCS.
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