Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) was once the South's most important lumber pine. This was in the "cut and run" heyday of logging the virgin forest. Today, longleaf pine is overall the least common, least economically important of the four major pine species in the Southern Pine Region (ie. it is grown on the smallest acreage of commercial forest). There are several reasons for what some regard as this unfortunate state of forestry affairs. First, longleaf pine is one of the slower-growing native pines that have value in industrial forestry. This is due to the long stage of early growth and development known as the grass stage (sometimes viewed as a form of nanism, extreme undersize or dwarfism). Longleaf pine is classified as Very Intolerant and is more intolerant than slash or loblolly pine. Longleaf pine cannot compete with the other three major pine species when growing in mixed stands. Even in well-established "pure" stands longleaf pine does not produce high volumes of wood per acre. -

Second (and a corollary to the first), longleaf pine is best-adapted to drier sites, especially those with sandy, acidic soils. Likewise, longleaf pine is one the best-adapted Pinus species of commercial use for sandy sites (though it can grow in wet flatwoods). The sandy and acid soils on which longleaf pine is most common are not the most productive forest sites. Many in fact are marginal forestlands. Other pines, especially loblolly, out-yield longleaf longleaf pine on the better sites.

So, longleaf pine is a weak competitor and grows slower and on the poorer sites. This is not a combination for high-yield forestry, in particular the important pulpwood industry. By contrast, loblolly pine (the foundation of the southern pine industry) is a native species capable of large adult size and rapid rates of growth. It is adapted to the most favorable forest sites including those that are wet or even pond water (ie. "loblollies" to use the colloiquial term for muddy, quagmire-like areas from which this common name was likely derived). Both loblolly and slash pines are superior for plantation forestry and pulpwood production. Shortleaf pine can be managed commercially farther north and west of the range of longleaf pine, and it as well as loblolly pine are less prone to damage from winter ice storms than longleaf or slash pine.

Walker (1999, ps. 111-112,127) discussed other specific reasons for the diminished commercial value of longleaf pine. He mentioned problems with poper use of prescribed fire which is needed to control seedling needle blight or brown-spot needle blight (Scirrhia acicola), prepare proper site and seedbed, and prevent catastrophic crown fires. One of the first factors contributing to demise of longleaf pine in the Southeast was destruction of seedlings by free-ranging feral hogs (pineywoods rooters, Arkansas razorbacks, ridge-runners, and other names not printable for polite society). It was discussed periodically in this web publication that the South (both Deep and Upland) was the last legal open range in the United States. Three decades after the Taylor Grazing Act closed the Public Domain to open range (ie. free and unregulated; open to the public) grazing, parts of states like Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri afforded open range legal status. And the age-old tradition of free ranging in the woods still held sway in the Deep South. Feral hogs uprooted young pines, especially longleaf pines in the grass stage, for the nutrients stored in their roots. Walker (1999, ps. 112, 124) reported that a single boar consumed the roots of 800 trees in ten hours. (He also reported that the pork from such razorbacks tasted like turpentine.) Free-ranging swine were recognized as a major threat to perpetuation of longleaf pine early in development of forest practice in the South. Schwarz (1907, p. 94) emphasized the "series menace to reproduction" of longleaf pine by woods-roaming hogs and cited earlier workers who had reached the same conclusion.

Ironically, longleaf pine is generally regarded as the best of the southern pines for timbers, lumber and overall forest products (yield of some products like pulpwood probably excepted). All of the southern pines are hard or yellow pines (in subgenus Diploxylon). Lumber from the hard pines is less prized than that of the soft or white pines (subgenus Haploxylon), but longleaf pine lumber is the best of the major southern yellow pines. After decades of "farming" loblolly and slash pines (plantation cropping) industry leaders, forest scientists, and professional foresters have begun to study longleaf pine forest ecosystems and silvicultural systems for restoration of this remarkable southern pine.

In addition to the superior wood qualities of longleaf pine, the characteristically herbaceous understorey of longleaf pine forest is some of the finest forest range in North America. This is especially the case when viewed from the perspective of forage yield and quality, and the feasability of using this grazing resource on a year-long basis indefinitely. The perpetual nature of this natural grazing land is a key characteristic in determining it's usefulness and economic value for both livetock (excluding those infernal, incessantly rooting hogs) and wildlife.

Longleaf pine range is permanent forest range. This contrast with the transitory feature of forest range in loblolly and slash pine forests (again, on industrial forest lands this is mostly pine plantations). Recall from above that on most loblolly and slash pine forest there are grazable and browsable understories only until the tree crowns grow large enough to form a closed canopy that excludes light from lower levels resulting in replacement of the understorey layers with a bare forest floor covered by pine straw. Range on these forest cover types is a temporary state. It is a function of secondary plant succession in that only pre-climax seral stages can be used as natural pasture. The relatively open canopy of a longleaf pine forest (due to the wide spacing or dispersion of the intolerant, non-competitive pines) results in a well-developed understorey of perennial grasses, composties and legumes even into the climax forest. In fact, these herbaceous understorey species are part of the climax. On well-managed longleaf pine range most understorey herbs are decreasers. Many are subspecies or ecotypes that are decreasers on the tallgrass prairies and tallgrass-oak-hickory savannas to the north and west of the longleaf pine range area.

Longleaf pine forests with their open, grassy understories having scattered shrubs and forbs are some of the best habitat anywhere for the king of upland game birds, the northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). Longleaf pine forest range became even more important as wildlife habitat with the unfortunate decline of this marvelous species throughout much of the Southeast due to land fragmentation a a result urban sprawl, proliferation of highway systems, and consolidation of smaller farms.

The most famous wildlife species for which longleaf pine forests are essential is the red-cocaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis). Much of the forest management effort in longleaf pine forests within the National Forests is directed to saving this endangered avian species. Those interested should consult such documents as Environmental Impact Statements. An example is that for the Kisatchie National Forest (U.S. Forest Service, 1999).

Fire has played a-- probably the--major role in evolutionary development of longleaf pine ecosystems. The longleaf pine cover type is likely the most fire-adapted forest in North America. The most immediate effect of fire, either natural or prescribed, is reduction of understorey hardwood shrubs and trees (or the maintenance of herbaceous instead of woody understories). Most of the herbaceous species in climax (seral, for that matter) longleaf pine forests are fire-adapted; most are grassland species. Longleaf pine is one of the most fire-adapted trees in North America, an extraordinary example of natural selection to an abiotic factor. Pure stands of longleaf pine (longleaf pine forest without a well-developed hardwood component) have traditionally been interpreted as subclimax or fire-climax vegetation (see for eg. Eyre, 1980, p. 52). Kuchler interpreted his Southern Mixed Forest unit (102) as "seral stages" (Garrison et al., 1977, p. III). Longleaf pine was probably the first (certainly one of the first) forest types understood to be a fire type, and the species recognized as being dependent on fire as part of its proper management.

Historical Footnote: Foresters' recognition of importance of fire in longleaf pine forests.

It was deemed worthy of historic note that management of longleaf pine, limited though it has been, was one bright "hot spots" in an otherwise misplaced national policy of fire exclusion. Much of the pioneer work on prescribed burning came from foresters (Harold Biswell for example) who spent formative parts of their careers working with longleaf pine and in the general Southern Pine Region. It was most revealing that the only treatment of prescribed burning in the first edition of the Forestry Handbook published by the Society of American Foresters (Forbes and Meyer, 1955) other than a four sentence paragraph in the silviculture section (Forbes and Meyer, 1955, p. 6.39) dealt with prescribed burning in southern pine and hardwood forests in the Forest Range Management section (Forbes and Meyer, 1955, ps. 11.65-67).

A brief and very revealing account of prescribed burning in the longleaf pine type and general Southeast plus history of forest and range fire policy of the U.S. Forest Service was offered by Stoddart (1969, ps. 242-251). H.L. Stoddart, Sr. is best known for his timeless "Bobwhite Bible". In course of his studies on this beloved eastern game bird Stoddart conducted what was probably the first major research with what he called "controlled burning". (This term was later changed to "prescribed burning" by the Forest Service as a "face-saving" move according to Stoddart [1969, p. 251]).

In this brief account (including how the Forest Service tried-- and largely succeeded-- to censor his chapter on fire in The Bobwhite Quail) Stoddart illustrated how history can be written and then rewritten (so-called "revised") to teach important lessons but at the expense of instructional truth and historic accuracy. Since widespread "discovery" and political-social acceptance of prescribed fire beginning in roughly the 1970s it bacame fashionable and, later, politically correct to describe founding foresters like Gifford Pinchot as ignorant of ecological principles and having a tree-farming or agronomic-like approach to forestry practices of which the policy of total fire suppression was to become the cause celebre. An example of this instructive but grossly oversimplified interpretation was that of Steinberg (2002, ps. 141-144). While Steinberg (2002, p. 143) correctly quoted Pinchot as naively stating "...that forest fires are wholly within the control of men" and as having laid the groundwork for a policy of total suppression, Steinberg ignored the context of those early Forest Service days when cut-burn-and-run logging and general, widespread overburning were standard practices. It was imperative that Pinchot and his Forest Rangers get some semblance of fire control on national forests. Over the next several decades total suppression of all fires understandably became the logical--if improper, misdirected response-- to abuses and excesses of burning forest and range.

Stoddart, who certainly had no reason to defend the U.S. Forest Service or it's "intensive propaganda" and misdirected policy of fire exclusion, stated that with regard to controlled burning "several prominent foresters, among them Gifford Pinchot, had guessed at the truth" (Stoddart, 1969, p. 247). Positive evidence of the truth of Stoddart's conclusion was the early publication by Pinchot himself in National Geographic magazine (Pinchot, 1899, ps. 393-403) in which Pinchot quoted John Muir in ranking fire with temperature and precipitation "as one of the great factors which govern the distribution and character of forest growth". Pinchot (1899, p. 393) continued to note that it was necessary to understand "how and why fires do harm, and how best they maybe prevented or extinguished", but in that same sentence he first mentioned "what might almost be called the creative action of forest fires". In the next paragraph Pinchot (1899, p. 393) wrote: "... we must clearly realize before the present subject can fall into its proper sequence, that we have not stated everything when we say that 'a given forest is destroyed by fire'".

In this same paper in National Geographic Pinchot (1899, ps. 396-397) described the role of fire in maintaining "oak openings" and "fire glades". Then Pinchot (1899, p. 398) described the adaptation of longleaf pine-- seedlings and adult trees-- to fire. Pinchot described in detail the fire-adapted, thick-barked shoots of longleaf pine seedlings ("two-thirds bark and one-third wood") and the "barrier of green needles" that "itself burn only with difficulty" and which "shades out the grass around the young stem, and so prepares a double fire-resisting shield about the vitals of the young tree". With such evolutionary mechanisms in longleaf pine, forest fires restricted reproduction and invasion of deciduous tree species like evergreen oaks into the vegetation and "has made a pure forest of pines " which would otherwise be oak woods ...wherever the annual fires cannot run" (Pinchot, 1899, p. 393). To support his observations, on the opposite page Pinchot (1899, p. 399) included a photograph of a longleaf pine seedling in the grass stage with a caption reading: "Fire-scarred seedling of longleaf pine- showing protecting natural grrowth of its needles".

Even before the monumental work of Stoddart and others who recommended control burning for longleaf pine (eg. Yale University professor H.H. Chapman) Gifford Pinchot, the "Father of American Forestry" and first Chief Forester of the U. S. Forest Service, had recognized and published the benefits of fire to longleaf pine. Interesting-- and not a little ironically-- Pinchot's now largely obscure paper (Pinchot, 1899) was published six years before founding of the U.S. Forest Service. Resistance to the proper use of fire as an ecological factor and silvicultural tool by the Forest Service can be viewed as a perversion of Pinchot's balanced view on forest fires. This fact is all too often not known or glossed over as, for example, by Steinberg (2002).

For the succent yet accurate story of longleaf pine, its requirement for fire, and the short-sightedness of later officials of the U.S. Forest Service the account by Biswell (1989, ps. 79-95) is flawless. For discussion of fire in longleaf pine forests the recent outstanding publication of Earley (2004, esp. ps. 17-31) was recommended highly.

Again one of the best accounts on importance of fire and longleaf pine is in Memoirs of a Naturalist (Stoddart, 1969). In Stoddart's Memoirs "controlled burning" and the advantages of longleaf pine over loblolly and slash pines on drier upland sites went together (Stoddart (1969, ps.249-250). That Stoddart understood that fire and longleaf pine went together was shown in several photographs in his Memoirs.

End of historical footnote on foresters' recongition of importance of fire in longleaf pine.

There are two general forms of understories in longleaf pine froests and, thus, two major longleaf pine range types. In the western part of this species' range the understorey is dominated by bluestems with various panicgrasses and paspalums as major associated species. In the eastern portion of longleaf pine forest the understorey is one of wiregrasses or threeawns, especially pineland threeawn (Aristida stricta).

Readers were referred to Fowells (1965, ps. 384-389) and Burns and Honkala (1990, ps. 405-412) for the silvics of longleaf pine. Two old but timeless classics on the longleaf pine are Schwarz (1907) and Gustuvus (1946) while fresher-from-the-press-- and destined for the status of "classics" is Earley (2004) and Jose et al. (2006). The latter two wonderful works indicated the reneewed interest in one of the most unique (and, unfortunately, most ignored) forest ecosystems in North America.

The value, beauty, and educational merit of the longleaf pine forest was such that this forest range cover type was awarded separate coverage with considerable photographic detail.

The following slides were taken on the Vernon Unit, Calcasieu Ranger District, Kisatchie National Forest and a portion of the adjoining Fort Polk Army Post, both in Vernon Parish, Louisiana. When appropriate the specific manageament area was noted. July.

Plant identification and nomenclature generally followed Grelen and Duvall (1966), Allen (1992), and Allen et al. (2002).

West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. The U.S. Forest Service Ecological Divisions (Forest Service, Final Environmental Impact Statement, 1999) were: Outer Coastal Plain Mixed Forest Province (232), Coastal Plains and Flatwoods, Western Gulf Section (232F), Western Coastal Plains Subsection (232Fa). Griffith et al. (2004) interpreted the longleaf pine forest cover type as being part of Texas Level IV Ecoregion: South Central Plains- Flatwoods, 35f. This published Ecoregion for Texas is separated from Louisiana by the Sabine River so that Texas Ecoregion 35f is appropriate for the longleaf pine cover type in an adjacent Louisiana parish. In fact, the Texas publication (Griffith et al., 2004) used the second (lower) photograph of Number 5 below from Vernon Parish, Louisiana as an example of the longleaf pine community in Texas Ecoregion 35f.

FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine). There were two distinct forms (variants or sub-types) of the longleaf pine range cover type in this unit: 1) Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landtype association and 2) Flatwoods Savanna. The latter landform variant or longleaf pine forest was not covered in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Kisatchie National Forest (U.S.Forest Service, 1999), but the flatland (vs. undulating rolling uplands) and presence of different key or indicator species between these two landform-based expressions of longleaf pine forest vegetation clearly distinguished them (at least in the interpretative view of this author/photographer). This is presented below and the reader can decide for himself.

5. Two composite views of an old-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest on rolling sandy uplands- These two "shots" were used to illustrate the composition and structure of a virgin forest of longleaf pine having a bluestem (Andropogon/Schizachyrium)-dominated herbaceous understorey. This is one form of the longleaf pine forest vegetation over the western portion of this forest cover type (a flatwoods form of the western longleaf pine was presented below). The eastern portion of the longleaf pine forest region has an understorey dominated by wiregrasses or threeawns (Aristida spp.).

Three general layers of vegetation were present in this potential natural plant community which is most precisely understood as a fire-maintained subclimax (or, with a slightly different view but having the same net conclusion, a fire-climax type). There was regeneration of longleaf pine, especially in openings, (see the first slide above the next caption), but this was basically an even-aged forest with most pines being of the same age class. There was a shrub understorey layer (presented and discussed in detail in photographs and captions that follow) which included longleaf pine saplings as well as numerous shrub species. An herbaceous understorey was present which was dominated by bluestems (Andropogoneae tribe). The herbaceous layer was the dominant component of the understorey. Simplisticly stated this vegetation was a pine forest with a "grass-shrub savanna" understorey. Technically that is a contractory description, but it drew an accurate conceptional view of this plant community.

The undulating or gently rolling land surface was shown in these slides but was more obvious in the first. The unequal but generally wide spacing of longleaf pine was apparent. It has been reported in the standard references on silvics of this species (eg. Burns and Honkala, 1990, p. 405-412) and by Walker (1999, ps.125-131) that the weakly competitive longleaf pine develops a root system pattern (deep tap roots and wide-reaching lateral roots) that results in wide spacing of individual trees. This pattern of dispersion creates a relatively open canopy under which prairie-like grasses and forbs and southern forest shrubs can achieve full development. Longleaf pine suppresses regeneration of it's own species thereby allowing growth and reproduction of other (but-- when combined with fire-- non-tree) species.

Drake Creek Natural Area, Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. Fres No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine).

6. Two interior views of old-growth longleaf pine-bluestem forest range- Compostition and physiogonomy of a virgin forest of the longleaf pine forest cover type was represented so as to emphasize the understorey which in this fire-climax type functions as permanent natural pasture. The first slide above this caption was included to show that there is reneneration of longleaf pine, the most intolerant of the major southern pines, even in an old-growth forest. Although the young longleaf pines in the foreground are of different sizes they are likely of the same approximate age (ie. the same cohort even if not of the same size). This is a typical situation due to varying periods of time individual seedlings remain in the "grass stage" (covered in detail below).

The dominant understorey species of longleaf pine forests in pristine state is typically pinehill bluestem (Andropogon divergens= A. scoparius var. divergens= Schizachyrium scoparium var. divergens). Some authorities such as Allen (1992) in Grasses of Louisiana simply listed this species as little bluestem (S. scoparium). This dominant is the basis of the name "longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem range". If and when habitat types are delineated for this "neck of the woods" this vegetation will certainly be the "longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem habitat type". The other major grass is slender bluestem (A. tener= S. tenerum). Big bluestem (A. gerardii) was also present, even locally dominant on microsites, on this old-growth stand.The weathered, pale yellow shoots of pinehill bluestem were conspicuous in the foreground of the second slide (immediately above) this caption.

From the stanpoint of number of species the most important genus was that of the panicgrasses (Panicum spp. broadly interpreted to include the rosette panicgrasses regarded by some as including other genera such as Dichanthelium). There were also several Paspalum species an example of which was covered below in the flatwoods form of longleaf pine. These latter two genera were relatively more important on the longleaf pine flatwoods than on the rolling sandy uplands longleaf pine forest.

Several common shrubs also grew on this old-growth forest community, but they were far less common on it (and on second-growth longleaf pine) on this Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landscape than on the flatwoods land form covered below. Dominant shrubs were typically huckleberry species both deerberry, buck berry, or squaw huckleberry (Vaccinium stamineum) and tree huckleberry or tree sparkleberry (V. arboreum). Other shrubs included southern wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), winged or shiny sumac (Rhus copallinum), American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), and cat greenbria(e)r (Smilax glauca). Blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica) was the most common hardwood tree species but it was found only as seedlings and as a small shrub, it being kept mostly "burnt out and off" by prescribed fire. Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) was the hardwood tree species that attatined the greatest height, but it was much less common in this virgin forest than in neighboring second-growth forests even though trees in those stands approximated old-growth specimens in size.

The self-pruning characteristic of longleaf pine was obvious in these photographs (one of numerous reasons why longleaf pine is the primere lumber pine of the Southern Pine Region).

Drakes Creek Natural Area, Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem. K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine).

7. Two photo-plots of old-growth longleaf pine forest from focal point of the range understorey- These two fields-of-view of relict longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem vegetation (it would be a habitat type) captured the diversity and the ground-level stratification of various herbaceous and woody species of the understorey. The bluestem species and several shrub species (huckleberry, southern wax myrtle, greenbriar, yaupon) were conspicuous in both photographs. Forbs were limited. The most frequent forb was the legume, goat's rue or devil's shoestring (Tephrosia virginiana).

Specific shrubs were more discernable in the second photograph. The tall shrub with white or gray stem growing to the left and behind the foremost pine was yaupon. The shrub immediately in front of this same foremost pine was blackjack oak. The shrub with large, light green leaves growing behind and immediately to the right of the foremost pine (and also some in the right foreground) was American beautyberry. Most of the shorter shrubs with shiny leaves were deerberry.

The conspicuous clump of darker green grass in the center foreground was big bluestem which "stood out" prominently against a backdrop of the tan- or buff-colored pinehill bluestem.

Drakes Creek Natural Area, Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine).

8. Detail of old-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest understorey on hummocky ground- The physiography of Fort Polk Rolling Upland landtype of the longleaf pine forest cover type was shown "close-up". The microtopography of rolling sandy upland produced microsites for various species resulting in prominent local micro- plant communities and in a pattern of various species segregated by microsite.

The characteristic prominent leaning of pine trees (and the hummocky land surface as an explanataion for this feature) was featured prominently in this slide of virgin longleaf pine. (This leaning aspect of longleaf pine habit was visible in most of the slides of this series.) Pinehill bluestem was conspicuous by it's leached-out, last year's shoots. This part of the forest had not been burnt this spring so some of the herbage residue from the previous growing season was still present.

The shrubs in the foreground were blackjack oak, deerberry, tree huckleberry, and winged or shiny sumac. The large shrub in background was sweetgum.

Drakes Creek Natural Area, Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf -Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF (Longleaf Pine). Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landtype form of longleaf pine forest.

11. Second-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest on Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landtype- On this frequently burned orest tract hardwood species were sparse and pinehill bluestem grew almost as a single-species understorey. Pine trees were more closely spaced and the species diversity of shrubs (as well as shrub cover) was much less than on the old-growth forest presented above. Dominant shrub was American beautyberry. In adjacent parts of this forest sweetgum was the dominant hardwood, but here sweetgum and other tree species like blackjack oak were "few and far between".

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. Western Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province.FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF (Longleaf Pine).

12. Longleaf pine forest range- Understorey of second-growth longleaf pine forest on rolling, sandy uplands. Pinehill bluestem was the understorey dominant. It was almost the only, the exclusive, herbaceous species except for some slender bluestem. Shrubs besides the most abundant American beautyberry were southern wax myrtle, winged sumac, and yaupon. The only forb found on this tract was shiny goldenrod (Solidago nitida).

The self-pruning feature of longleaf pine was prominent even in these young trees. This in conjuction with wide-spacing of trees created a more favorable habitat for understorey species all of which gave a parklike feature to this forest. This is permanent forest range. This fire-climax forest with it's herbaceous understorey that provides excellent forage for grazers like cattle and horses will-- with proper management, including prescribed burning -- persist indefinitely. A grazable/ browsable understorey is part of this vegetation for it's entire sere (the whole successional sequence; the complete pathway of vegetation development).

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosytem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine), Fort Polk Rolling Uplands form.

13. Southern forest range without peer- The pinehill bluestem-dominated understorey of second-growth longleaf pine forest on sandy, rolling hills was featured here. This is a close-up view of the herbaceous understorey of a sandy upland form of the longleaf pine forest cover type. The understorey was composed of pinehill bluestem with a minor component of slender bluestem. It was an exclusive bluestem understorey as shrubs were extremely limited and forbs were absent for all intents and purposes.

The accumulation of pine needles (very conspicuous in this and and in the preceding slide) along with dormant bluestem herbage at end of the current growing season (and until onset of the next) is fuel for naturally occurring and human-conducted prescribed fires. These fires will preserve the longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest against invasion by native hardwood shrubs and trees. Invasion by these species would inevitably result in replacement of this habitat type and outstanding forest range by an excessive cover and species composition of hardwoods (examples shown below). Fire is essential for preservation of this natural subclimax or fire-climax pine forest.

This tract had not been burned at beginning of this year's growing season so fuel (dead grass shoots remaining from the previous summer plus pine straw) had built up. After so many years this organic matter would accumulate beyond the depth or quantity of beneficial mulch and take on a light-excluding role that would reduce forage yield and lead to fuel loading. The latter is the accumulation of combustible material that if ignited could cause fires of intensity so great as to damage the forest ecosystem (eg. crown fires).

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (longleaf Pine).

14. Pinehill bluestem (Andropogon divergens= A. scoparius var. divergens= Schizachyrium scoparium var. divergens)- Turf of a dense colony or stand of pinehill bluestem, the dominant species of the understorey of longleaf pine forest in the western portion of this forest cover type. The longleaf pine forest understorey in the eastern part of this cover type is dominated by threeawns, known to those in the extreme Southeast as "wiregrass". In contrast, the western portion has a bluestem understorey, the main species of which is pinehill bluestem.

In typical fashion, agrostologists (fundamental grass scientists) cannot agree among themselves whether this is a separate species or a variety of little bluestem. They cannot even decide if the genus is Andropogon or a Schizachyrium. Anyone knowledgable enough to know little bluestem (and it's numerous "kissin' cousins") knows that these furnish excellent forage for grass-preferring herbivores, at least during grass growth.

This stand was growing on the second-growth longleaf pine sandy uplands forest shown in the three immediately preceding slides. This range had not been fired at onset of the current growing season so there was herbage remaining from last year's biomass. This was mid-July but at this latitude the tropical panicoid grasses mature quite late as they allocate their resources to extend throughout the warm growing season. At this point in the bluestem's annual cycle the grass plants were still in the pre-boot phenological stage. Dead shoots from last summer "mingled" with current season's biomass to produce this visual effect.

15. Individual plant of pinehills bluestem- This specimen grew on the second-growth longleaf pine forest tract viewed in the last four slides. A mixture of dead shoots from the preceding growing season and live shoots from the current growing season existed beside each other. Last year's bluestem spikelets had shattered. Pinehill bluestem is probably the most valuable forage species in the western part of the Southern Pine Region. The "little bluestem complex" and closely related taxa like pinehills bulestem (if indeed pinehill bluestem is in that general group and not a separate species) constitute one of the most widespread sources of range forage in North America.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

16. Second-growth longleaf pine- pinehill bluestem forest- This is the same tract of forest vegetation shown in the last photographs. This photo-plot illustrates the seed tree phenomenon. The old-growth pine featured "front and center" somehow survived logging to become the seed bearer-- a de facto seed tree--and parent tree of the younger longleaf pines aroung it (within distance of pine seed dispersal). This appeared to have taken place naturally following the typical "cut and run" logging of frontier days (ie. deforestation).

Walker (1999, ps. 117- 131) explained that the silvicultural method for longleaf pine regeneration differs substantially from that of the other three major southern pines (loblolly, shortleaf, and pitch pine). Walker recommended a modified two-cut shelterwood system to facilitate reproduction of longleaf pine. This regeneration method involved leaving seed trees after the first cutting which then had to be harvested once longleaf pine seedlings were established. This is a kind of "hybrid" method involving both the shelterwood and seed tree methods that regenerate a forest stand of a single age class. Silvicultural terminology, especially that as it pretains to regeneration methods, is complicated (if not complex also) and daunting to the neophyte. Readers are referred to the various editions of the Society of American Foresters glossary or dictionary, especially that edited by Helms (1998). See also Smith (1986, chapter 14 specifically) and Daniel et al. (1979, ps. 445-449).

It is difficult to plant longleaf pine seedlings due to the size and shape of the root system and the possibility of a prolonged grass stage. Regeneration by seedings-- either naturally by seed trees or artificial sowings-- has generally proved more satisfactory. Given the intolerance of longleaf pine and it's poor regeneration in shade (including of it's own species) combined with it's limited capacity for successful competition, development of regeneration methods for commercial production of this outstanding southern lumber tree has been slow in coming. Regeneration by natural seeding was represented by the seed tree presented here.

The shrub at base of the seed tree and scattered throughout the bluestem-dominated understorey was American beautyberry.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70, sandy, hilly uplands variant.

18. Second-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest recently treated with prescribed fire- This was the third tract of the longleaf pine cover type treated herein. It was separated from the second-growth tract just discussed, which was contiguous with the old-growth tract (Drakes Creek Natural Area), by a Forest Service gravel road. In other words, these three examples of the longleaf pine forest range type were conterminous. This tract had been treated by prescribed burning prior to the current warm-growing season. It was representative of recently fired longleaf pine forest range. Species composition of this forest community was similar to that of the sister tract of second-growth longleaf pine forest studied immediately above, except that this recently burned tract had more forbs and, obviously, smaller shrubs these latter having been burnt back but a few months prior to time of photographs.

This longleaf pine forest range type (SAF Forest Cover Type 70) was of the form recognized as the Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landtype association (Environment Impact Statement, U.S. Forest Service, 1999). The micro-topography of this sandy, hummocky upland was quite conspicuous on this recently fired tract as shown in this and the succeeding slide. The appearance of this burnt longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem range should be compared to that of the unburnt understorey in the preceding slides of a sister tract of longleaf pine-bluestem range. Such pictoral comparison of herbage (even without laboratory evaluation of range feed or animal diets) clearly showed why stockmen, especially cattlemen, burn ranges. The various Indian tribes fired the longleaf pine forest-- in fact, all of the southern pine forest types-- for the same reason. The routine management practice of "burning off the range" reduced the cover of woody plants in the understorey thus facilitating travel through the forest and it improved the quality of range animal diets and increased animal performance (of native grazers and browsers on the redman's range, but benefits were the same for the white man's livestock as for game species).

Routine burning also maintained the pine subclimax stage of the southern mixed forests (or, same thing, preserved the fire-climax pine forests). This "maintenance management" of relatively low intensity surface fires coincidentially reduced the incidence of the brown spot needle blight (Scirrhia aricola) that can be so devastating to longleaf pine seedlings at the same time that it improved quality and availablilty of range feed and reduced cover of hardwood species. How much of what today is recorded, research-based science was known to aboriginal man as part of the oral tradition (and quickly transmitted to white frontiersmen) remains a secret with their Great Spirit.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southrn Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine).

19. Second-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest range following prescribed burning- Appearance of a second-growth longleaf pine forest following prescribed burning just prior to the current growing season. Compare lack of dead herbage and fallen pine straw on this bluestem-dominated understorey (read "range") to that present on the understorey of the sister tract discussed immediately preceding discussion of this burnt tract.

Viewers should also make note of the hummocky micro-relief that was made more visible by removal of understorey litter. This gently undulating land surface is due to the sandy soils typical of much of the Coastal Plain along the Gulf and Atlanic Coasts. The deeply penetrating tap root and widely spreading lateral roots of longleaf pine secure trees of this species against windthrow and natural toppling in the "shifting sands" of it's naturally selected habitat. Longleaf pines growing on these sandy hills also lean more than most trees. (Incidentially, this created an optical effect that was most confusing to the photographer who frequently found himself over-compensating in efforts to keep the ground and the delightfully fire-polished trunks in some sort of visual perspective.)

Pinehill and slender bluestem were understorey dominants, but at microsite scale (ie. that of the micro-relief) forbs were often locally dominant.

Venon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70.

20. Longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest- If and when the concept and vegetational unit of habitat type is applied in the eastern deciduous and southern pine forests as it has been in the Northwest the vegetation presented here would be the longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem habitat type. From perspecitive of the current publication this is the permanent forest range of the longleaf pine forest cover type (SAF 70). A grazable/browsable understorey remains a characteristic of this vegetation throughout its entire sere (the whole sequence of the process and pattern of successional development). Wide spacing of the weakly competitive and Very Intolerant longleaf pine results in incomplete closure of the forest canopy such that adequate light reaches the lowest levels necessary for development of an understorey (sometimes of at least two layers). Most of these longleaf pine forest understorey species are heliophytes ("sun- or light-loving" plants; plant species thriving in bright light or light of intensities up to full sunlight). Most of these heliophytes are herbaceous species. More specifically they are grassland grasses and forbs-- or taxa related to these sun-loving species-- whose centers of distribution are in the tallgrass prairies and tallgrasss-oak-hickory savannahs but which can thrive in the sunlite longleaf pine forest far from their original home.

Among the forbs, dominants were-- as to be expected-- generally composites and legumes, but even ferns were local dominants. In the view shown here the dominant composite was shiny goldenrod (Solidago nitida) and the dominant legume was goat's rue (Tephrosia virginiana). The ever-present pinehill bluestem was conspicuous as light-green patches.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of the Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine).

21. Goat's rue or devil's shoestring (Tephrosia virginiana)- This is one of the most commonly occurring legumes on longleaf pine ranges subjected to routine prescribed burning. In fact, Grelen and Duvall (1966, p. 56) remarked that it "is often the most abundant forb on dry, sandy sites that are periodically burned". They also noted that cattle seldom take it, but that bobwhite quail do eat the seeds. Deer most likely eat goat'srue.

In the understorey of a longleaf pine forest prescription burned prior to current growing season. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

22. Shiny goldenrod (Solidago nitida)- This was the most common composite on the various tracts of longleaf pine forest treated in this publication. And, of course, Solidago is one of the most species-rich genera in North America. The goldenrods are often the signature species on numerous forest and range sites, especially in the approximate eastern half of the continent. The contribution of goldenrods to range and/or forest communities is mostly unknown, but these species definitely add "bloom and blazonary" to the charm of late summer and autumn vegetation.

Management included prescription burning. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

23. Hairy boneset or hairy joepyeweed (Eupatorium pubescens)- Eupatorium is another genus that has undergone much speciation on the prairies and open understorey forests that are frequently part of the eastern deciduous forest formation. The white-flowered Eupatorium species pale (pun intended) in comparison to those of Solidago in this feature, but there are a number of the former on the longleaf pine ranges. (Greland and Duvall [1966, p. 61] listed 10 Eupatorium species for just the bluestem understorey form of longleaf pine forests.)

Understorey of the longleaf forest that received prescribed fire for the current growing season.Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

24. Slender blazingstar or slender gayfeather (Liatris tenuis)- There are a number of Liatris species on the ranges of North America, most in the Prairie Plains Region. The presence of a Liatris species in this forest vegetation was another indicator that in essence this was a prairie understorey beneath a longleaf pine canopy. This is an example of the indictor plant concept.

The tract of longleaf pine forest range that had received prescribed fire before the current warm growing season that was featured in this portion of the publication. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

25. Longleaf pine forest range after recent prescribed fire- This second-growth longleaf pine forest was the tract that had been prescription fired prior to current growing (warm) season. It was the Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landtype association form of the general longleaf pine range type (SAF forest cover type 70). The land was that of sandy hills having a hummocky micro-relief which was apparent in this photo-plot.

This slide was included to show local dominance by the range forb, bracken fern or southern bracken (Pteridium aquilinum var. pseudocaudatum). This illustrated the phenomenon that even where one or two species dominate the understorey overall (eg. in the longleaf pine forest tracts covered herein the understorey was typically a pinehill bluestem consociation) numerous species may form exclusive and locally extensive stands or colonies to persist as local dominants (ie. microsite dominants).

Note on silvics of longleaf pine: In this, and several of the other photographs shown in this series, there are longleaf pines of various sizes in the same stand leading those unfamilar with this interesting species to assume that these trees of varying sizes are also of varying ages. This could in turn lead to the conclusion that there has been some reproduction from existing trees. Logical though this is, it "ain't necessarily so". Trees are biological. And one of the several unique biological phenomena of longleaf pine is that trees of the same age, those of the same cohort, can be-- indeed, often are-- of greatly different sizes and phenological stages. Much of this is explained by the often prolonged period of the "grass stage". Once some trees "outgrow" the grass and sapling stages to reach, say, pole size these pines suppress further development and growth of the seedlings or saplings of the same cohort of this Very Intolerant species. (See Walker [1999, ps. 129-130].)

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosytem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70.

27. Doghair stand of longleaf pine- One of the first and most-- perhaps the most-- fundamental lessons in Agriculture, indeed of all Life Sciences is Malthusian Theory. The English preacher and professor of economics Thomas Malthus had one of the most profound divine revelations of all time. The most immediate aplication of this is known as Malthusianism- "The theory that population increases much more rapidly than the food supply unless held in check by epidemics, wars, famine, or similar phenomena" (Morrison, 1992). More specifically Malthusian Theory, as it was later applied in expanded form by great biologists like Darwin and Russell, postulated that populations of all organisms (not just of man) increase geometrically (ie. 2,4, 8, 16, 32, etc.) but supply of food (and other resuoces) increases arithmetically (ie. 2, 4, 6, 8,10, 12, etc.).

Longleaf pine was not granted special dispensation from this ironclad law of life. The inherent or potential rate of increase of every species always exceeds the available supply of physical-chemical-biological factors that would be required to sustain that rate. The Great Biologist said it succintly: "For many are called, but few are chosen" Matthew 22: 14 KJV). Of the countless pine seeds, acorns, salmon fry, quail eggs, and college freshmen few will survive to set seed, lay eggs, and otherwise pass on the DNA of their kind. Oh yes, in these times of supplemental feeding when legions of meaningless, cheap diplomas adorn the walls of "college graduates" there does appear to be an exception to Rev. Malthus' revelation. No so! They shed sterile seed. The parchment adorns the wall, but does not multiply the knowledge upon which mankind depends. Such sheepskins are but birth certificates of orphaned college bastards treading to the already long line of functional illiterates. Even within such lines of those who pursue (and too often possess) the dubious distinctions of learning most are like acorns and fingerlings. They are mere "academic cannon fodder": easy prey for slum lords (including the University itself) and those who sell lavish dual-wheeled trucks, ethanol (not the kind for the truck), and their adolescent flesh for the pleasure of the moment.

Here readers view the over-populated forest "campus" with the exponential masses of longleaf pine undergrads-- before the inevitable apperance of the Grim Reaper who eventually levels the biological balance. Even one of the most intolerant and least competitive tree species native to North American forests has the capacity to overpopulate.

Regeneration in a second-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest on a small parcel that had escaped a prescribed fire. This was a local patch (as in Patch Dynamics Theory) in the tract of longleaf pine forest that had not been burned in the year of the current growing season. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

28. Former doghair stand of longleaf pine after the surface fire of a prescribed burn- The Grim Reaper cometh and his scythe was flames of prescribed fire. This sample stand of longleaf pine was on the opposite side of a Forest Service gravel road from the small doghair stand shown in the preceding slide (a distance of about 20 steps separated the two samples of longleaf pine). The photo-plot seen here was in the second-growth longleaf pine forest that had been prescription-burnt for the current growing season.

The decimating factors-- the term used by Leopold (1933, ps. 24-44) in Game Management-- that limit or prevent the potential or inherent rate of population increase from being realized include any number of natural catastrophes or phenomena that can have subtle or cataclysmic impacts on the population of any organism at any time, any place. That most certainly includes fire, fire of any combination of intensity, frequency, season, area, and selectivity.

The effects of a surface fire in a prescribed burn killed enough young longleaf pines to "open up" a doghair stand similar to the one shown above. This allowed ecological conditions and resources to be used such that the remaining pines can reproduce or at least grow and survive. Crowding is a threat to forest trees. Fire as a natural and anthropogenic component of the habitat can reduce or eliminate the detrimental effects of crowding. For the Very Intolerant longleaf pine fire is one of the major "decimating factors" that benefits the immediate population of this species (and of the species generally) to which it occurs. This includes fire applied by Man the Forester or Range Manager, the Manipulator of Ecosystems.

Readers should observe carefully both the dead and the live pines and make a mental note as to which sizes (= heights) of trees were claimed by the Grim Reaper and which sizes (and phenological stages) his flaming scythe passed over. The rest of this lesson followed below.

A second-growth longleaf pine forest treated with prescribed fire for the current growing season. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine).

29. Ground level of the understorey of a second-growth longleaf pine forest- Shown here was the lower layer(s) of the vegetation of a longleaf pine forest that had not been subjected to a fire in several growing seasons. Different sizes of longleaf pine seedlings and saplings were present. It was not determined if these various sizes and phenological stages were of the same or different ages. It was explained above in a note on the silvics of longleaf pine that individuals of vastly different sizes and stages of phenological development are often of the same age due to varying lengths of time that these individual trees were in the "grass stage". Some seedlings remain in the grass stage for as long as 25 years (Walker, 1999, p. 112).

The other tree seedlings are those of blackjack oak and black oak (Quercus velutina) or a blackjack oak x black oak natural hybrid (Quercus x bushii). The pine straw (shed pine needles) and grass herbage from previous growing seasons that remained undecomposed constituted a fuel build-up or the phenomenon of fuel-loading (measured as the oven-dry weight of fuel per unit area).

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana.

30. Close-up view of fuel build-up around a longleaf pine seedling in the grass-stage- Growing pinehill bluestem, blackjack oak, and red bay (Persea borbonia), this latter species at immediate right of the grass-stage pine, have emerged from the forest litter of fallen pine needles and residual grass herbage that accumulated from previous years. All of these species compete with the seedling of one of the least competitive tree species and they will quickly shade out this "little guy" whose species is rated as Very Intolerant, the lowest category of relative tolerance. In other words, "little guy pine" is dead wood unless something intervenes that shifts the competitive advantage. Some of the things that can do this are those which will selectively defoliate the grass and hardwood tree seedlings more than the longleaf pine seedling. Grazing by cattle and/or deer might perform this service for "little guy". Alterntively a fire on the surface of the forest floor could do the same thing if the fire did less damage to "little guy" pine. In fact, both the biotic and abiotic defoliation agents might come to aid "little guy pine".

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

31. Close-up of the floor of a longleaf pine forest that has grass and grass-stage pine seedlings growing in the second growing season following occurrence of a prescribed (or wild) fire- Appearance of grass stage longleaf pine seedlings and the soil surface about one year after a prescribed (or, for the pines, a very fortituous) burn. There are no hardwood or forb species in this photograph, but the careful viewer can count four longleaf pine seedlings and five plants (clumps) of bluestem. The fire consumed the needles on the pines as well as all the herbage of the perennial bluestems and the biomass of any other plant species (plant materials). Unequivocal evidence: these things were missing from the scene, any residue not totally burned up either blew or washed away. The fire did not kill the apical or terminal bud of the pines or the rootcrowns of the bluestems. Proof: they grew back this next year. Now the pines' only competitor is the bluestem. Ergo: longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest.

Recall from above that surface fire in longleaf pine forests is the most efficient, effective factor in control of brown-spot needle blight.

Note that the needles surrounding the terminal bud of the pine on the right side of the "front row" were pushed aside by the photographer to reveal the bud and show close proximity of the terminal bud meristem and needles. This was shown in greater detail shortly below.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

32. Bluestem (either pinehill or slender) and longleaf pine in the grass-stage- A cespitose individual of pinehill or slender bluestem (the photographer could not be specific as to species, but the telltale pigmentation at tip of leaves is proof positive of "a bluestem") was on the left while a grass-stage longleaf pine was on the right of this "group picture". A panicle of Pensacola bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum var. saurae) with most of it's spikelets shed inserted itself between the two "featured speakers". Grass stems and leaves remaining from previous season(s) and fallen pine leaves formed a litter layer on the forest floor.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

33. Grass-stage longleaf pine surrounded by bluestem leaves- The build-up of undecayed bluestem herbage was fuel for a fire-waiting-to-happen. Even in this hot, humid zone microbial decomposition cannot keep up with biomass production. This was a fire-prone condition. It is a perpetual fire-prone condition. For any species to survive here it must be adapted to fire (ie. fire-tolerant). Fire-tolerance (as with tolerance to drought, salt, wind, etc.) takes many forms ranging from fire-avoidance to morphological, anatomical, or physiological modifications of sporophytic and/or gametophytic generations.

The next six slides showed-- to the extent slides could-- the most obvious means by which the remarkable longleaf pine grows an "asbestos armor" of green needles to protect it from it's "abiotic symbiote". Pines shed leaves which are ready fuel for any fire. Fire, for it's part, reduces or eliminates competition, controls diseases like brown-spot needle blight, and recycles soil nutrients to benefit pine.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

36. Terminal bud of longleaf pine in the grass-stage- The terminal bud which surrounded and held the apical meristem was fully exposed in this view. This short sequence showed students how the meristematic tissue of the apical bud is protected in longleaf pine . The short stature and small size of grass-stage pines afforded some protection irrespective of the needle defense mechanism by keeping the growth- and development-regulating tissue closer to the ground and farther from any mouths or the hotter part of flames that might remove or, at very least, damage it.

The physiology by which the apical meristem regulates growth and morphology of plants (the phenomenon of apical dominance via hormonal regulation) has attracted study and scientific scrutiny for several generations of plant physiologists. Much of the mystery remains. As was the case with plant taxonomy and nomenclature, much of the effort seems to have been directed as much toward disproving past pet theories and publishing "gotchas" as it was toward constructive elucidation of the mechanism.

In addition to material applied directly to range plants in publications by the Society for Range Management (Sosebee, 1977; Bedunah and Sosebee, 1995) and to forest plants (mostly trees) by Kramer and Kozlowski (1979) and Raghavendra (1991) students were further directed to Romberger (1963), Dormer (1972), Cline (1991), and Lyndon (1998).

37. Young (physiologically young, not necessarily young in chronological age) sapling-stage longleaf pines entering rapid growth- These longleaf pines were growing in a sward of pinehill bluestem with an accumulation of bluestem herbage that was a potential fuel for surface forest fires. These pines were in a phenological stage perhaps accurately described as subsapling-stage, except for the one directly in front of the foremost subsapling pine which was still in the grass-stage.

Pop quiz: If a fire broke out and burned with such intensity as to totally consume the dry, flammable bluestem thatch which, if any, of the pines would be likely to survive to tell of the "holocaust"? Yes, grass-stage. Which pine is most likely to be killed by the fire? Big boy in front. Why? Need a hint? Look at top of "big boy pine". What to you see? What do mean you can't see! OK, take a closer gander...

39. Second Pop Quiz- What happened to this longleaf pine? Or, did anything happen to it? Is it still a normal little tree? Hint: look at it's bole. Shinny up two slides and compare the stem of this second quiz tree to stem of first quiz, stem of "big boy pine". Yep, shinged it's stem needles right off. That all? No, look again. That ain't all Grim Reaper got. Took the terminal bud, he did! Observe the brown discolored top of the shoot. The apical bud was killed or sverely injured.

It was established that a surface fire in the forest burned off the ephemeral needles growing on the bole of this pine. Further evidence of a fire is the shrub seen at the extreme right margin of the photograph. This shrub was also burnt and top-killed leaving the shoot to fall over while the shrub resprouted from it's stump. Note also that there is no grass herbage remaining on the soil surface, but instead only a thin layer of pine straw (no accumulation of tree litter except needles shed after the fire). All this is evidence that collaborated loss of the bole needles.

Return to the featured longleaf pine and it's bole. Anything else out of the ordinary there? Yes. There were two small limbs developing along this stem and starting to branch off from it. Explain this development in view of apical dominance. One need not be expert in this matter. Even the traveling lecturer's chauffeur could answer this one. The loss of or severe damage to the apical meristem eliminated apical dominance (or reduced the influence of apical dominance enough) to release the intercalary meristem which was then able to develop. Intercalary meristem was no longer under suppression by apical meristem, but instead the intercalary tissue started to develop. Now instead of a pattern of growth under control of the terminal bud on the tip of the central stem two new terminal buds developed along both sides of the bole from which growth will be controlled. Instead of having a tall, single trunk the pine will develope as a forked tree with the crotch beginning at a considerable distance above the land surface. This will develop into one form of what foresters know as a wolf tree. Fire was both master sculptor and Grim Reaper.

Second-growth longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest that had prescribed burn before onset of current warm growing season. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

40. Longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest range that was not recently burned- This example of longleaf pine forest vegetation was a small tract on Fort Polk military reservation adjoining the Forest Service tract presented above that had been treated with prescribed fire for the current growing season. This US Army tract was also of the Fort Polk Rolling Uplands landtype association (the sandy, hummocky hills) form of longleaf pine forest but it had not been subjected to recent fires. Burned bark on base of the larger longleaf pines and old charred stumps of hardwood trees and larger shrubs were proof that this Fort Polk forest vegetation had been burned in the past, but that was enough years ago that sweetgum sprouts had grown to heights over "head high". In the five tracts of longleaf pine forest of the sandy hilly land or rolling uplands form in this general management area this Fort Polk tract was the only one that had a major component of sweet gum, one of the most common and widely distributed hardwood tree species in the Southeastern Region. Longleaf pine forest subjected to frequent fires and those in higher successional status (these usually coincided) had lower densities and less cover of sweet gum.

Other sprouting (and perhaps seedling) shrub species included winged sumac, southern wax myrtle, yaupon, and Magnolia virginiana which is known variously as white bay, sweet bay, swamp magnolia, Virginia magnolia among others. Pinehill bluestem was the dominant herbaceous species. (Pinehill bluestem can be clearly seen in the foreground of this slide.) There were also grasses of the Panicum and Paspalum species as well as sedges (Carex spp.). The dominant forb was shiny goldenrod. This parcel of sandy hills longleaf pine forest was in close proximity to a longleaf pine forest of the flatwoods form that was discussed below.

Fort Polk Army Base, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine), Fort Polk Rolling Uplands form.

42. Southern wax myrtle or bay berry growing on a longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem range that had not burned in recent years- This plant was growing on the Fort Polk tract of longleaf pine shown in the preceding slide of vegetation. All shrubs were of larger size and greater number (greater density and foliar cover of shrubs) on this longleaf pine forest tract that was not burned (prescribed, accidental, and/or arson) as frequently as the other four tracts of the Fort Polk Rolling Uplands (sandy, hilly land) form that were discussed.

Pinehill bluestem, the understorey dominant on old-growth and advanced stage longleaf pine forest, was being out-competed and overwhelmed by southern wax myrtle and other hardwood species (shiny or winged sumac, sweet gum, Virginia magnolia) on this tract.

Fort Polk, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

43. Southern wax myrtle resprouting following prescribed fire prior to current warm-growing season- This specimen of bay berry was growing on the tract of Fort Polk Rolling Uplands form of longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest that had been fired by prescrption before this growing season. That parcel of vegetation was discussed and covered in some detail above. The shrub regrowth shown here was roughly midway through the first growing season following prescription burning. Compare this wax myrtle to the one protected from prescribed burning that was shown in the preceding photograph.

Students should note the many shed pine needles that had fallen on the ground and into the now dead crown (group of shoots) of this wax myrtle plant. The resultant condition was an accumulation of fuel for surface forest fires that will burn back the shrub once more. In this repeating pattern of frequent and relatively low intensity surface fires shrubs like southern wax myrtle and white bay or Virginia magnolia and trees species like sweet gum will remain of relatively small size and short stature. This in turn keeps competition between hardwood species and pines (and grasses like the bluestems) at a minimum and to the benefit of the conifers (and the understorey range grasses). It was remarked earlier that fire and longleaf pines were mutually beneficial to each other. Fire also helps control brown spot needle blight in pine seedlings as well as greatly reducing size and cover of hardwood trees and shrubs. Again, this reduced competition between the poor competitor and Very Intolerant longleaf pine and the competitively superior hardwoods.

Adaptation of longleaf pine to fire is one of the most remarkable-- and straightforward--cases of natural selection to a natural abiotic factor in the forests and rangelands of North America. The morphological adaptation of grass-stage pines and of terminal bud protection afforded by needles and the anatomical-physiological mechanism of apical meristem (and it's dominance of plant growth pattern) and intercalary meristem (and it's response to alleviation of apical dominance) were textbook examples to illustrate Darwanian evolution (natural selection) to students in Forestry and Range Management.

Even the long length of the needles which contributes to build-ups of pine straw for fuel loading is a derived trait which increases the likelihood of forest fire that in turn benefits the longleaf pines that grew and shed the readily flammable fuel. Stewardship of longleaf pine forest and range resources demands that these intgrated fire and life cycles remain one, a burned but unbroken circle.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

44. White bay, sweet bay, or Virginia magnolia resprouting after a prescribed fire- This was another shrub on the tract of longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem that had been treated by prescribed burning prior to the current warm growing season. Almost all shrubs of all species (eg. southern wax myrtle as shown above) had resprouted and were growing vigorously following the prescribed burn. It was obvious that heat released by this surface fire (it was hot enough to scourch pine trunks to heights of 12-15 feet) did not kill the native hardwood shrubs and trees (eg. sweet gum, white bay). They were top-killed but rapidly resprouted from stem bases (ie. stumps) or root crowns. The net result to trees and herbaceous species like grasses was reduced competition (specifically, a shift in competitive advantage away from shrubs to pines and grasses).

Another result of this top-killing and resprouting combination following prescribed fire was increased browse production. Even species like Virginia magnolia that are typically not very palatable will be less unpalatable and more likely to be eaten than when they are unburnt so as to grow out of reach of browsers. Likewise, the recycling of soil nutrienst in conjuction with the higher nutrient content of plant regrowth makes all hardwood trees and shrubs more acceptable to browsing wildlife and livestock.

Some shrub species actually proliferate under fire regimes and increase density and cover following fire (prescribed or wildfire). Shiny or winged sumac is one of the best known examples of this phenomenon. Fire somehow causes increased sprouting from the creeping rootstocks (rhizomes) of Rhus species. These species are as fire-adapted as longleaf pine and prairie grasses (Rhus species are typically grassland plants). Thus, surface fires in the longleaf pine forest cover type do not reduce all competition between shrubs and understorey grasses or between shrubs and longleaf pine seedlings/saplings. The general rule of improved browse still holds with sumacs. In absence of fire and with advanced age of shoots, individuals of these species can grow to heights of small trees (upwards of 30 feet). Not only is this out of reach of browsing range animals, but the plants are often observed to die once this size is attained. Fire somehow rejuvanates the clonal Rhus species.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest. Vernon Parish, louisiana. July.

45. Flowers of sweet-gum (Liquidambar stryraciflua)- Sweet-gum is a monecious species with male infloerescences consisting of spherical clusters occurring in an overall raceme-like arrangement (upper structure in this photograph) while female inflorescences consist of solitary globe-shaped clusters at ends of long stems (structures in lower center in photograph). Sweet-gum is in the witch hazel family (Hamamelidaceeae).

May. Cherokee County, Oklahoma.

46. Close-up of monecious flowers of sweet-gum- Clusters of staminate flowers on a racemose inflorescence in center foreground with a pistillate flower cluster in right midground of sweet-gum.

May. Cherokee County, Oklahoma.

47. Immature fruit of sweet-gum- Details of young fruit of Liquidambar stryraciflua. This fruit type is interpreted as a septicidal capsule, a dry, dehiscent (opening by various structures) fruit that dehisces (opens) through pore-like exits or openings within the septations or partitions of the ripened ovary (Smith, 1977, ps. 65, 66, 307).

May. Cherokee County, Oklahoma.

The flatwoods form of longleaf pine forest was presented next. The form or variant of the longleaf pine range type (SAF forest cover type 70) covered thus far was the forest community on sandy, hilly or hummocky land (designated as the Fort Polk Rolling Uplands by the U.S. Forest Service, 1999). Another and much more restricted (ie. generally a minor) form was that confined to land that was lower in elevation and more nearly level. The land aspect of this forest environment was characterized by lacking the gently undulating (rolling) ground surface and being below the hill tops. In some cases the land of this form was less well-drained (perhaps even poorly drained) and in low-lying local sites flooded from tributaries and small streams. Soils on these frequently flooded sites were alluvial. Overall the flatwoods form of longleaf pine forest grew on soils higher in clay (sometimes quite clayey) and much lower in sand than the rolling upland form of longleaf pine forests. Earley (2004, ps.118-120) presented diagrams that distinguished among: 1) sandhills, 2) flatwoods and savanna, 3) rolling hills, and mountain longleaf communities.

From the perspective of forest range, the subject of this publication, the understorey was substantially different-- and conspicuously so-- from that of the sandy hill form of longleaf pine forest. Bluestem species were still common, even locally dominant, but there were many more species of grasses and grasslike plants than on the rolling, sandy land pine forest. Many of these were the more mesic, almost hydric, species like those of Carex. Others were classic indicator species. For instance, the presence of the decreaser grass, green silkyscale (Anthaenantia villosa),-- rare though it was-- proved to this author that this range plant community was an expression of longleaf pine forest vegetation that was obviously different from the sandy uplands form dealt with previously.

The other key, and also obvious, feature was the general wider spacing among longleaf pines. This was not uniform, but rather existed in spots such that there was a vegetational mosaic with groves of longleaf pine of typical dispersion and areas more like a pine savanna (more open than woodland and with tree canopy cover only a fraction of that in the groves).

This form of the longleaf pine forest cover type, except for the examples of unburned forest, was also on the Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest. The "control plots" (examples of unburned longleaf pine forest) were on Fort Polk Army Post. The tract that was periodically burned had been burnt by onset of the current warm-growing season. Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July

48. Flatwoods form of longleaf pine forest range type- Technically this example of vegetation was the savanna category of plant community. In fact, a textbook illustration of savanna. Tree canopy did not approach that of woodland. Distinction between forest, woodland, and tree-savanna is always a relative and, usually, an arbitrary one. This author followed the generalization that vegetation qualifies as forest when tree crowns interlock to form a closed-- at least more closed than open-- canopy reached by climax, or earlier, stages (and which may or may not exclude understorey layers). Woodland applies when tree crowns do not interlock but, in effect, form an open canopy so as to more-or-less "cover the sky" when viewed from below. Savanna is the physiogonomic form (outer appearance) when trees are so scattered (and crowns so widely dispersed) that there is essentially no tree canopy (just periodic and ever-shifting shade).

This was a longleaf pine savanna. No quixotic attempt was initiated to define successional status of this vegetation. The understorey had pinehill and slender bluestems, but also switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), peaked panicgrass (P. anceps), green silkyscale, Pensacola bahiagrass, and one or more of the varieties of Paspalum setaceum. Forbs and forb species were generally limited, but the dominant in this view was shiny goldenrod.

This tract had been burned prior to the current growing season and had the appearance of such treatment. Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

49. Longleaf pine flatwoods forest range- In contrast to longleaf pine forests on sandy, rolling uplands this slowly drained, more level-like, clay-based soil had local areas with tree densities more like that of a savanna than of a forest or even woodland. In other localized "spots" longleaf pine grew in even greater densities than on the sandy uplands.The understorey was much more species-rich on this flatwoods form. Lianas like greenbrier (visible at base of front treea) were locally common. One of the more frequently encountered shrubs was white or sweet bay. Southern wax myrtle was also a common shrub. Sweet gum appered to be the most abundant hardwood tree species, but red maple (Acer rubrum), blackjack oak (at left side of front tree trunk), and post oak (Quercus stellata; young tree at far left margin near front) were locally common.

Forest had been burned this year (prior to warm-growing season).

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Froest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70, flatwoods variant.

50. An opening and a grove of pines in the flatwoods form of longleaf pine forest- Edge of an opening looking into a grove of longleaf pines on a flatwoods form of longleaf pine forest range. The conspicuous forb (and the one locally dominant) was hairy boneset or hairy joepyeweed. Most of the taller grass (and with characteristic areas of blue on leaves) was pinehill bluestem, but switchgrass and green silkyscale were also present. Sweet gum resprouts were present. The narrow, gray-colored trunks in the pine grove were white bay. Greenbrier was common farther back in the trees. Much of this tract was more of a longleaf pine savanna than a forest per se. Designation of the general plant community would be longleaf pine forest, but much of the physiogonomy of this parcel was savannah.

Vernon Unit. Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosytem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70, flatwoods variant.

51. Interior of longleaf pine flatwoods (savanna-like) forest range- A dense stand of young (pole-size) longleaf pine were growing in background, but the vegetation shown in foreground was an open woodland-like unit with an herbaceous understorey of pinehill and slender bluestems, switchgrass, green silkyscale, and one of the varieties of Paspalum setaceum. Much of the area of this tract of longleaf pine had the physiogonomy and tree cover of a savanna. Most of the woody resprouts were sweet gum. Yaupon was a characteristic shrub, but southern wax myrtle was also present though infrequent.

Vernon Unit, Kistachie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine), flatwoods variant.

52. Paspalum setaceum- P. setaceum was common in depressions on the flatwoods form of the longleaf pine foret range type (SAF 70). Allen (1992, ps. 226-230) distinguished five varieties of this cespitose species, four of which occur in the parish this specimen was photographed in. These two plants, which were growing across the road from the prescribed burn tract, had shed last year's spikelets so identification to variety level was impossible. Presence of species like this one, switchgrass, green silkyscale, and pinehill beakrush (Rhynchospora globularis) along with the lowland land with soil of higher clay content distinguished this flatwoods form the sandy uplands form of longleaf pine forest range presented earlier.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July.

53. Pihehill beakrush (Rhynchospora globularis)- This grasslike plant of the sedge family (Cyperaceae) was growing in a shallow depression in the longleaf pine flatwoods forest under current discussion (often more of a longleaf pine savanna or savanna-like forest). Species like this and green silkyscale were regarded as indicator plants which were some of the criteria that distinguished the flatwoods form from the rolling sandy uplands form of the longleaf pine forest cover. A young plant of goat's rue was growing on the left edge of the beakrush.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Paraish, Louisiana. July.

54. Longleaf pine flatwoods forest from which fire was excluded- A two-lane state highway was all that separated the tract of longleaf pine flatwoods forest displayed in the last four slides of longleaf pine forest (and savanna) vegetation (the four immediately prior to the last two photogaphs of plant species) from the vegetation of the unburned tract shown here. The forest vegtation presented here was that of the flatwoods form of longleaf pine. It was on Fort Polk (U.S. Army reservation) in a critical location from which fire had to be excluded.

The plant community seen here had developed into a closed canopy, second-growth longleaf pine-mixed hardwood forest. Perennial grasses (pinehill and slender bluestems, switchgrass, beaked panicgrass, green silkyscale, paspalums), grasslike plants (pinehill beakrush and Carex spp.), and forbs (shiny goldenrod, hairy boneset, goat's rue) were replaced by hardwood trees and shrubs. These hardwood plants included white or sweet bay (the conspicuous, gray-barked, slender trunk in center foreground), persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), hawthorn (Crataegus sp.), red maple, sweet gum, wild plum (Prunus sp.), southern wax myrtle, yaupon, winged sumac, poison ivy, and swamp cyrilla (Cyrilla racemiflora). Plus, there were a few which the author could not identify. And yes, all these species were positively identified by the photographer within the fields-of-view of this and the next slide. How many of these species were also present on the burned tract but in such reduced size as to be unnoticed and/or unidentifiable was not established. Nor was it that important: on burnt tracts these tree and shrub species were not dominant and had not excluded the herbaceous species.

Management implications and successional interpretation of this forest vegetation was presented immediately below in the next caption.

Fort Polk, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province.FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70, flatwoods variant).

55. Longleaf pine flatwoods forest not managed with prescribed fire- The forest vegetation presented here was that of the flatwoods form of longleaf pine growing on Fort Polk (U.S.Army reservation). Species present in this vegetation were listed in the caption immediately above which was a vertical view of this same plant community showing the structure and physiogonomy thereof. This dense second-growth forest had not been burnt in a number of years and had developed a multi-layered understorey including several hardwood species that had grown up into the crowns of the pines. When this vegetation does ultimately catch fire the initial surface fire will climb the "fire staircase" that developed under "fire protection" and "crown out" (develop into a crown fire). The result of the crown fire will be far more of a disturbance than if numerous lower intensity surface fires (as in fuel-reduction prescribed burns) had occurred.

Undoubtedly, such catastrophic fires did take place naturally over the millinia. Such natual occurrences (even view them as disturbances or, for maximum effect, "destruction") would require development of this vegetation (ie. succession) to the stage shown here. So beyond question this vegetation was natural vegetation. The issue comes down to whether such vegetation (such a stage of vegetation development) was stable, sustainable, in dynamic equilibrium, etc. (ie. was it climax; did it persist long enough to be viewed as the potential natural vegetation). Just because it existed at some point in time and space proved nothing: freshly denuded parent material was a state of natural vegetation, but it was never interpreted as the ultimate-- the stable-- potential for the sere on which it occurred. The ultimate test of a climax is it's stability at a place (on a given site) over the entire time frame in which it could, in theory, exist.

Interpretation of the successional status of this vegetation would depend on such things as mere sematics, theories of vegetational development, views on factors affecting climax, and whether fire is a major climatic factor or a management practice, with all of these tempered by professional orientations. If one sees fire as distinct from climate, and instead an anthropogenic input, then the vegetation viewed here was closer to climax (ie. climatic climax) than the open, grassy understorey, longleaf pine forest displayed as the successional "ideal" throughout this section. That "ideal" would in such case be at best a "fire climax", "fire-maintained subclimax", or some other arrangement of terms with the same implication. If, on the other hand, one interprets fire as but one-- though perhaps as the dominant one-- component of climate he will regard the open understorey longleaf pine as the climax and the vegetation seen here as having been subject to less than the total climate. In this latter view, the longleaf pine-hardwood understorey would be viewed alternatively as a disturbance climax (where elimination of fire is itself the disturbance), an anthropogenic or zootic climax, or a postclimax. If someone sees climate as including fire as one of it's major (natural and integral) components he would regard a fire-climax as just a specialized form of climatic climax in which fire is the determining climatic variable (eg. more determinative than precipitation or temperature). In this view fire is merely a manisfestation of climate (the same as say for hurricanes) as modified by factors like topography. Fire is ignited by lightening strokes, fanned by winds, and fueled by plant material produced largely by climate. From this perspective fire is as much a function, factor, or component of climate as is precipitation, wind, humidity, temperature, and so on. All of these latter aspects or components of climate are affected by land forms and local topography the same as is fire. From this perspective fire-climax as just a specialized form of climatic climax in which fire is the determining climatic variable more than precipitation, temperture, etc. .

None but God knows which of these interpretations most closely approaches scientific (= absolute) truth. What is more, God is not the sole Creator of this vegetation. He delegated part of His authority for creation to man, manipulator of ecosystems. As partners in development of vegetation man has some say.

(Mini-editorial: For the record, your author subscribed to the successional philosophy laid out last above. Fire is largely-- though not entirely-- a function of climatic variables (itself being one such variable). It follows that fire suppression is a disturbance as much as lightening-set crown fires, hurricanes, drought, ice storms, etc. The man-made vegetation portrayed in the photograph above this caption is an "ecological mess". Longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem forest on rolling sandy land and flatwoods longleaf pine-mesic graminoids forest on level, lowland was herein upheld as the potential natural vegetation, the climax forest (and climax forest range). So much so in fact that "fire climax" or "climatic climax", though more specific, were also redundant. Most importantly from the perspectives of Forestry and Range Management, these longleaf pine- herbaceous understorey communities are beyond doubt the superior vegetation for production of lumber, wildlife, and livestock.)

Fort Polk, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. West Gulf Coastal Plain unit of Coastal Plain physiographic province. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70 (Longleaf Pine, flatwoods variant).

56. Regeneration of longleaf pine with maintenance of grass-shrub understorey- Regeneration of longleaf pine, the premiere lumber tree of the South, is possible in spite of numerous problems. A modified two-cutting shelterwood method has been developed in which seed trees are harvested once seedlings have established (otherwise seedlings of this weakly competitive species will die or remain for prolonged periods in the grass stage). Longleaf pine can also be planted, but special procedures are required: either 1) use of container nursery stock or 2) planting nursery stock that had needles and tap root clipped at time of lifting (Walker, 1999, ps. 128-130). Readers will have to learn specifics appropriate for their local growing conditions and forest sites.

The point of this lesson is that longleaf pine can be managed as a commercial species. In this specialized system of lumber production permanent forest range is an important secondary use of the forestland for both livestock and wildlife. This was discussed above. The parting shot here is that vegetation like that presented in these two slides and not the "tangle" or "jungle" of brush seen in the two preceding photographs is the plant community to be managed for.

The grassy understorey of this young forest was overwhelmingly pinehill bluestem. Prominent woody species included sweet gum (tall shrub-form plants at far left of first slide), southern wax myrtle (most common shrub seen), winged or shiny sumac, yaupon, and blackjack oak. Plants of these woody species were still of shrub size.

This vegetation needed a surface fire from standpoints of both range and forest improvement: woody species were beginning to grow to such size and density as to form excessive cover. The pines were still somewhat small for prescribed burning given the high fuel load of the understorey, but it will not be very many years before a prescribed fire should be included as a forest management practice. Obviously a prescribed burn would not be conducted at this season (time of year) and phenological stage of grass development. Carefully managed grazing by cattle would be a sound management practice. Cattle grazing would reduce fuel loading from grass herbage and, to a lesser degree, from hardwood species. Browsing of hardwoods would reduce competition and enhance growth of pines.

Vernon Unit, Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. July. FRES No. 12 (Longleaf-Slash Pine Forest Ecosystem). K-102 (Southern Mixed Forest, Seral Stages). SAF 70.