Sussex County Landowner Completes the Largest Planting of Longleaf Pine in Virginia

Landowner plans to donate conservation easement on 1,400-acre property to The Nature Conservancy

Sussex County, Virginia — Crews working for Sussex County landowner Bill Owen completed the largest planting of longleaf pine in the state last week at his 1,400-acre property in the community of Yale. Once the most dominant upland tree species in the Southeast—historically covering about 1.3 million acres in Virginia—today the longleaf pine clings to survival on less than 1,000 acres statewide.

After planting roughly 125,000 longleaf seedlings, Owen plans to donate a conservation easement on his property to The Nature Conservancy. The property includes the 180-acre site where the seedlings have been planted. Owen also has committed to bequeathe the property to the Conservancy.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the restoration of the mighty longleaf to its former range in Sussex County,” said Bill Owen, who is making the conservation easement donation in honor of his parents.

When early Europeans first arrived in North America, longleaf pine covered more than 90 million acres ranging from Florida to Virginia and west to Texas. Today, more than 97 percent of those forests are gone, according to the Longleaf Alliance.

“Bill is a terrific example of a private landowner with a strong conservation vision for his property,” said Brian van Eerden, director of the Conservancy’s Southern Rivers Program. “He is not only interested in protecting his land today, but leaving a legacy for future generations.”

Owen has pulled together different agencies such as the Virginia Department of Forestry, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service for this effort to help restore longleaf pine to Virginia.

Some benefits of restoring longleaf pine include the following:

• Stands of longleaf pine offer more diversity, visual appeal, wildlife habitat and higher value products than other pine species.
• When properly managed with prescribed fire, longleaf pine can provide excellent habitat for bobwhite quail—a popular game species among hunters.
• More than 30 plant and animal species associated with longleaf pine ecosystems are threatened or endangered, including the red-cockaded woodpecker.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its nearly one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 14 million acres in the United States—including more than 220,000 acres in Virginia—and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at nature.org/virginia.