Point Washington State Forest controlled burn south of 98

[ShallowsNole]

Not only turpentine, but a LOT of our forest, particularly longleaf pine, was clearcut by my relatives for the sawmills in Point Washington.

Thankfully they pretty much left the old oak trees alone.

 

[Kurt]

Not only turpentine, but a LOT of our forest, particularly longleaf pine, was clearcut by my relatives for the sawmills in Point Washington.

Thankfully they pretty much left the old oak trees alone.

I assume most of the oaks were cut as well, judging by the size and quantity of oaks in the rest of the northern gulf region. Otherwise most of SoWal uplands that weren't pine forests would look like Eden State Gardens, where the owners retained the native live oaks in the immediate vicinity.

 

[beachmouse]

Eglin Reservation has also been working to get rid of the sandy pines and replant with longleaf pines as part of a long term habitat restoration.

I really hate the sandy pines for the simple reason that they aren't wind-tolerant and tend to go down in strongish tropical storm force winds. It's the kind of tree that ended up on our garage roof after Ivan. My neighborhood was a turpentine farm back in the 30s, and they replanted the sandy pines because those trees grow a lot more quickly than the longleafs do. An every bad storm, more and more of the remaining ones go down in yards.

 

[Matt J]

When I got this merit badge it was explained that while pine trees are planted in rows for ease of planting and harvesting it does happen in nature as well and due to an optical illusion the eye sees a grove of pine trees in normal rows.

In the natural occurrence of this an old pine tree dies and falls over. This creates a straight line. As the tree decays seedlings sprout in the remains and around the tree. During a natural forest fire the seedlings that are not being fertilized by the decaying tree are generally destroyed. This creates a natural line of trees and the process repeats over time. Even though you have a random pattern of straight lines of trees sometimes crossing, due to triangulation the human eye sees rows.

 

[florida girl]

The Oaks are found along high ground areas, favorable for their growth. You'll also often find Indian artifacts around those areas. Pine propagate profusely around here, the seedlings I was referring to were the long leaf pine, Loblolly, and sand pine. Yes, they would go into the swamps and cut Cyprus for building a house, but there are still quite a lot of them, and they are still multiplying. This area provides a fertile habitat for a number of trees and vegetation.

 

[florida girl]

Before tree farming there were natural pine forests here consisting mostly of longleaf pine. Almost all of the natural pine, oak, cedar, and cypress in the area was logged.

In recent years, the forestry division has planted over one million longleaf pine seedlings in Point Washington to help return the area to its natural state.

Most of the burns go on in areas where longleafs are growing or where they will be planted. In other areas burns reduce the amount of underbrush so that in the event of an unplanned fire, the fire doesn't spread out of control.

Read this article to learn about fire in the life cycle of a longleaf pine forest.

The seedlings you see that grow like weeds are likely sand pines. They are the ones with extremely shallow roots which grow very close together.

I'm sorry Kurt, I have to disagree. There is still a lot of the original type of tree left outside of what these subdivisions have taken, but the Loblolly was a more lucrative crop than the long leaf pine. Much of the natural state of this area was swamp and low lands, without trees. St. Joe planted the Loblolly Pine and actually did us a favor. It natualized and has done very well. The burns I've seen have taken place on old St. Joe land transferred to the state, with Loblolly on it. Considering the high content of sap in the long leaf pine, I cannot see where setting fire to it is a good idea. That's fat lighter! How we start a fire. Also used to retrieve turpentine.
And no, I'm not talking about Sand pines!

 

[beachFool]

Longleaf > Loblolly

A little background for me-I was "cruising" timber before I could drive legally.

Lobolly and slash pine were a better fit for St Joe since they grow to pulpwood harvesting size sooner than longleaf. But unless you own a pulpwood mill there is little value in raising pulpwood-inflation adjusted prices have shrunk since the 70s and 80s.

Also, pulpwood is the lowest value - chip and saw for plywood, saw logs and poles are produce far, far greater returns.

In reality loblolly produces lower value than slash and significantly lower than longleaf-in the long run.

Slash pine reach financial maturity in 35 years, longleaf much longer. Loblolly generally don't work as well for saw logs or plywood compared with slash. Loblolly can be harvested for saw logs, mills prefer slash.

Longleaf is naturally fire resistant. When in the grass stage the needles actually fold around the growing tip to protect the tree.

Fire is an integral part of Southern Longleaf Pince ecosystem-without fire there would be more less longleaf.

Longleaf DOES have sap, however, the sap does not run during cold weather. That is why smart folks burn in the winter, the trees are less susceptible to fire. An out of control summer fire would be more dangerous.

Hope this helps.

 

[NotDeadYet]

Thanks, Buz. Good info.
This site has lots more on pine forests and fire ecology.
The Fire Ecology Program at Tall Timbers

 

[Matt J]

I'm sorry Kurt, I have to disagree. There is still a lot of the original type of tree left outside of what these subdivisions have taken, but the Loblolly was a more lucrative crop than the long leaf pine. Much of the natural state of this area was swamp and low lands, without trees. St. Joe planted the Loblolly Pine and actually did us a favor. It natualized and has done very well. The burns I've seen have taken place on old St. Joe land transferred to the state, with Loblolly on it. Considering the high content of sap in the long leaf pine, I cannot see where setting fire to it is a good idea. That's fat lighter! How we start a fire. Also used to retrieve turpentine.
And no, I'm not talking about Sand pines!

We always got out lighter wood from dead trees. How does the addition of water, present in living trees, add to the flammability of lighter?

 

[florida girl]

Long leaf pine have a much higher turpentine content than other varieties. You can obtain chip and saw from 20 to 25 year old stand of loblolly or slash pine.