Uneven-aged management of longleaf pine: a long-term demonstration

Background/Question/Methods Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forests once covered an estimated 20-30 million hectares of the southeastern United States.  The original longleaf pine forest was self-perpetuating due to frequent, growing season fire.  Longleaf pine reproduced in openings in the overstory where dense stands developed and maintained it over the millennia.  The result was a park-like, uneven-aged forest, composed of many even-aged stands of varying sizes.  Over the past 15 years there has been an increase in longleaf acreage do to planting in response to a variety of reasons, yet 72% of the existing stands are naturally-regenerated.  A disturbing trend is the loss of natural forests, a 32% decrease over the 15 years.  It is these natural forests which are ecologically of most concern.  Today longleaf forests cover 1.3 million hectares and nearly 58% is private ownership.  Despite the common belief that landowners have forested land primarily for revenue, a recent survey of Alabama forest landowners found nearly 50% owned land for their heirs, scenery, and hunting/fishing while only 12% listed revenue as their primary reason.  A 16- hectare stand of longleaf pine has provided a 60-year demonstration of longleaf pine forest management for the small-scale private forest landowner. 
Results/Conclusions In 1948, the Farm 40 was established on the Escambia Experimental Forest in south Alabama, USA as a demonstration of longleaf pine forest management for the small-scale private forest landowner.  The long-term management goal of the Farm 40 was to grow high quality sawtimber and poles on a 60-year rotation while minimizing additional investments or expenses.    Regeneration and intermediate cuts provided regular income from the forest using the shelterwood method on a small scale.  Harvest area gaps were established on the forest so that small areas, 0.8-1.6 hectares in size, were harvested leaving the highest quality seed bearers in the overstory for regeneration.  To support future management of the Farm 40, a GIS database has been created by tallying and stem-mapping all trees greater than 7.9 cm DBH.  The database and associated maps have been used to identify cohorts created by past regeneration harvests, gaps, and locations of potential harvests for the future.  Gaps have been evaluated and quantified to identify size, presence of regeneration, and distance to cone bearing trees.  The database and maps create products that extend beyond management to serve as portable educational tools that can be utilized by landowners and managers for numerous objectives.