A Longleaf Pine Sandhill Restoration in Northwest Florida

Abstract

northern Florida. projects being undertaken in behalf of restoration of longleaf pine forests range from burning of fire-suppressed longleaf sites to wholesale restoration of entire communities. One of the most ambitious is the longleaf pine/wiregrass (sandhill) community restoration at The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve (ABRP) in the Florida panhandle’s Liberty County, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Tallahassee. This project is of special importance to the longleaf restoration effort because it represents leading edge research in the use of wiregrass reintroduction combined with prescribed burning to restore the community’s dominant groundcover and ecological processes. The longleaf pine/wiregrass community at ABRP is of special interest to restorationists in part because it offers a severely degraded and fragmented ecosystem in an ecological and institutional context that is ideal for a well-coordinated, long-term restoration effort. This is true despite the fact that the 2,540-hectare (6,300-acre) preserve was not acquired because of the ecological value of the upland forests. The conservation target was the slope forest community that threads through the site and the host of rare species found there. The steep slopes shelter northern species such as mountain laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ) , oak-leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ) , trailing arbutus ( Epigea repens), and southern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)--all of which reach their southern limits here. The slopes also harbor a number of endemics including Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), Florida yew (Taxus floridana) and Apalachicola dusky salamander (Desmognathes apalachicoli). The sandhill community is found on hilltops and on the slopes of gently rolling hills. Their soils are composed of deep, marine-deposited, yellowish sands that are well-drained and relatively sterile. Water moves through these porous sands rapidly, so there is little runoff and minimal evaporation. Historically, the sandhill community supported an open canopy of longleaf pines, scattered oaks (Quercus laevis, Q. geminata, Q. incana, and Q. minima), wiregrass, and other grasses and forbs. The longleaf pine on the area that is now the preserve was selectively logged through the 1940s. Vigorous fire suppression at this time greatly reduced the frequency and number of fires, allowing gaps to close. Without fire, litter accumulated, eliminating the patches of bare soil needed for longleaf regeneration. Myers (1990) notes that foraging by hogs also limited pine regeneration as open range laws allowed domestic hogs to roam free, feeding on young trees throughout the longleaf sandhill areas. Clear cutting began in the mid-1950s and was followed by the mechanical clearing of all remaining vegetation into windrows, linear heaps of logging debris, other vegetation and topsoil. By 1958, the majority of the preserve’s sandhills had been cut and cleared. These heavily scarified areas were then planted in slash pine (Pinus elliottii) brought in from off-site. Though slash pine grows in northwest Florida near the preserve, it is not found naturally on the deep sands of the preserve. This species is much less fire resistant than longleaf pine, so fire was ex-