Panhandle Longleaf Pine

Panhandle Longleaf Pine program area

The Florida Panhandle has some of the largest longleaf pine forests in the world. Here, trees hundreds of years old tower over thousands of acres of wiregrass, remnants of a once vast longleaf pine forest that covered more than 60 million acres of the southeastern coastal plain from Virginia to Texas. Though only 2 percent of the original forest of old growth longleaf pines remains, what is left is part of an incredibly diverse region the Conservancy and its partners are working to protect.

Rare Plants and Animals

• red-cockaded woodpecker
• Florida bog frog
• Florida black bear
• Gulf sturgeon
• flatwoods salamander
• Okaloosa darter
• white-top pitcher plant
• Panhandle lily

Threats

• The relatively moderate cost of living in the Panhandle and its attraction as a haven for second homes has led to a population boom. This growth is having a tremendous impact on the area’s natural habitats.
• Erosion, sedimentation and runoff are lowering water quality and reducing the overall health of aquatic systems.
• Loss of buffer lands adjacent to public lands is making land management activities like prescribed burning increasingly difficult.

Conservancy Action

• Since 1993, The Nature Conservancy has worked closely with Eglin Air Force Base — the largest single owner of longleaf pine forests. In the 1990s the Conservancy conducted a six-year study at Eglin as part of the base’s efforts to restore sandhill areas and habitat for endangered red- cockaded woodpeckers.
• Future conservation actions include using conservation easements to protect industrial and non-industrial timberlands, continued use of prescribed fire as a land management tool, increasing water-resource protection and improving land management techniques.
• The Conservancy will also work on strategies to abate the threat of invasive, non-native species and will pursue ecotourism and sustainable forestry opportunities.

White-top pitcher plant © The Nature Conservancy

• GCPEP was formed in 1996 when large landowners came together to conserve and restore the dwindling longleaf pine ecosystem and the unique aquatic resources of northwest Florida and south Alabama. 
• Together, the 10 public and private partners that comprise GCPEP own and manage more than 1 million acres that contain most of the world’s remaining old-growth longleaf pine trees, some of which are 500 years old. By reconnecting the longleaf pine ecosystem, GCPEP lands provide enough contiguous forest to aid the recovery of many rare species. 
• Through cooperative management, including the installation of cavity nest boxes in longleaf pine trees and prescribed burning, the decline in federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers on GCPEP lands has been reversed, and the number of birds is now rising. 
• Fire is a key factor in the survival of many species in the GCPEP area. Joint prescribed fires continue to restore ecological areas and reduce hazardous fuels.

Preserves
The Nature Conservancy owns and manages two preserves in the region:

• The Betty and Crawford Rainwater Perdido River Nature Preserve is a 2,331-acre sanctuary along the Perdido River in Escambia County that protects numerous rare plants, including white-top pitcher plants. A generous gift from the BCR Foundation created the preserve as a memorial to its founders Betty and Crawford Rainwater. 
• The Conservancy also manages the 2,750-acre Choctawhatchee River Delta Preserve in Walton County.

For More Information
For more information about the Panhandle Longleaf Pine Large-scale Conservation Area, call (850) 675-5758.