People of the Pines 

To nurture the rural culture and heritage of this biodiverse region, Craighton also works with the next generation of conservation professionals, starting at local high schools.

In partnership with local landowners, businesses, state agencies, the military and other community members, she partners with the Young Farmers Association to host the annual Forestry and Wildlife Expo in Buena Vista, Georgia. The event highlights careers in conservation with fire demonstrations, wildlife encounters and one-on-one conversations with industry professionals.

“For a rural community, this event reaches beyond the high school. It’s neighbors talking to neighbors,” says Craighton.

Fire is essential to longleaf pine, and so are well-trained fire professionals. TNC offers extensive training and networking opportunities for fire staff, and extends much of that training to our state and federal agency partners. Early in his career, Pipes gained experience burning military lands through Engine Academy at Camp Blanding in Florida. TNC and Florida State Parks cosponsored his Crew Boss Academy participation, where he learned the leadership skills that he passes on to other fire professionals today.

It’s this network that makes prescribed fire possible.

In Georgia, TNC crews join state, federal and nonprofit partners to form the Interagency Burn Team, a statewide group of fire professionals who can quickly and easily activate for large-scale controlled burns. TNC is also investing in fire crews through our new Chattahoochee Fall Line headquarters, an office space, workshop and crew house for seasonal fire professionals. The office is centrally located in the 36,000-acre Fall Line area, offering a location for staff and partners who often travel between southern and northern properties.

The map also includes parcel layers that represent landowners who have more than 10 acres of land within a 10-mile radius of the Francis Marion National Forest. These parcels qualify for cost-share assistance for forest management practices. Mapping and data provide a roadmap for conservation priorities, and Ma works as a connector with these landowners and government agencies. He links together funding sources that can help private landowners with prescribed fire expenses and training.

The SLCC hosts burning workshops and Longleaf Academy, a two-day workshop that covers everything from how to plant and establish longleaf seedlings, to applying herbicides and conducting safe, effective prescribed fire. With the support of TNC in South Carolina, they also host the yearly Sewee Fire Fest in Mount Pleasant, a free, family-friendly community event that brings together partners for a fun day of fire demonstrations, live music and activities.

TNC’s Venus Flatwoods Preserve's 100+ year-old longleaf pines are a lesson in longevity. This preserve in central Florida is among the southernmost stands of longleaf pine, and here the trees have been untouched for decades, a rare example of an old-growth system. These big, resilient trees are just the kind of specimen TNC and our partners would like to see across the Southeast, making it a prime location to collect seeds to be planted in other similar environments.

With the help of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Ridge Rangers program, Millett, preserve staff and volunteers ventured out to the massive old pines and used a telescoping pole to reach high enough for the perfect pinecone—one opened just enough to release seeds but yet to be eaten by squirrels and other pine seed-loving creatures.

The pinecones were then transported to an FWC greenhouse, where Lake Placid Garden Club and Ridge Rangers volunteers dried them to prepare for planting in flats at FWC’s Royce Ranch. The next step is to measure the survivability of these locally sourced seeds versus northern-sourced seeds to test the value of local adaptation.

From the Indigenous People who first lived on these lands to those who work to restore them now, our fingerprints are on these landscapes. As we prepare the soil, plant new seedlings and lay down fire, these lands touch us, too.

Together, we have the people-power to bring longleaf pine forests back to the South.

People like LuAnn Craighton and Bryn Pipes, who connect with communities to catalyze conservation; Windy Daniels, who sparks youths’ interest and care for longleaf pines; Patrick Ma, who empowers private landowners to protect their own pieces of pine paradise; and Cheryl Millett, who grows passionate volunteers and staff who invest their time and talent back into the earth.

These passionate people—the educators, volunteers, land stewards and heroes behind the scenes—drive this work forward to protect and restore 8 million acres of longleaf pine ecosystems across the South.