Longleaf pine forests are full of history and wonder.
The State Tree of North Carolina is the pine tree, and the most famous pine of all is the longleaf pine. Many people know it from our State’s Toast: “Here’s to the land of the longleaf pine… .” The longleaf has had a long and troubled history in the Southeast. This pine species once covered 94 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but longleaf forests now encompass less than 3 percent of that original range. In North Carolina in the early 1800s, the longleaf was the dominant tree in 50 counties. This remarkable tree nurtured Native Americans, Colonists and a young state, and it now protects unique and sometimes fragile ecosystems. Longleaf forests have become diminished for many reasons—clearing of land for farms, cutting of trees for timber, bleeding the trees for resin for turpentine and tar, and too many wild pigs! The most significant reason, however, is the lack of fire.