Key Takeaways
- The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced $20 million in conservation grants to restore, enhance, and protect longleaf pine forests across nine southern states, leveraging more than $18.6 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $38.6 million.
- The grants were awarded through the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund (LLSF), a public-private partnership supported by 12 funding partners, marking 15 years of grantmaking through the program.
- The Bezos Earth Fund contributed for a fifth consecutive year, bringing its total investment in longleaf restoration through LLSF to more than $67 million over five years.
- Projects span Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, and are expected to establish more than 30,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat and complete prescribed burns on an additional 350,000 acres.
- Since its 2012 launch, the LLSF has invested more than $151 million and leveraged an additional $131 million in matching contributions, for a total conservation impact of $282 million.
NFWF Awards $20 Million for Longleaf Pine Restoration
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced $20 million in conservation grants to restore, enhance, and protect longleaf pine forests across nine southern states. The grants will leverage more than $18.6 million in matching contributions, generating a total conservation impact of $38.6 million.
The funding was awarded through the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund (LLSF), a public-private partnership and competitive grant program supported by the collective investment of 12 funding partners. This marks a fifth consecutive year of major funding from the Bezos Earth Fund, which has partnered with NFWF for over five years and has invested more than $67 million in longleaf restoration grants through the LLSF to date.
“The projects represent years of dedicated effort by both public and private funders and partners committed to the voluntary restoration of the longleaf pine ecosystem and mark another strong year for longleaf conservation. Together, these projects will advance innovative approaches to expand and improve longleaf pine forests, strengthen reforestation efforts, help landowners improve the productivity of their lands, and help engage more landowners to restore the longleaf landscape—critical steps toward achieving the America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative's goal of restoring 8 million acres,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF.
Why Longleaf Pine Forests Matter for Biodiversity
The fire-adapted longleaf pine ecosystem supports immense biodiversity, including more than 900 plant species found nowhere else on earth, and provides habitat for 40 species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Longleaf pine forests are drought tolerant and provide clean water, outdoor recreation opportunities, and jobs in the forest sector, while also supporting national defense by buffering military installations from encroaching development.
Once spanning more than 90 million acres across the southeastern United States, longleaf pine forests today cover only about 5% of their historic range due to land conversion and fire suppression. The ecosystem's biodiversity is striking at small scale: up to 50 different plant species can be found within a single square meter of forest habitat.
NFWF's 15 Years of Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Funding
This slate of projects marks 15 years of grantmaking through the LLSF, which NFWF has operated as a model for landscape-scale conservation partnerships since its 2012 launch, building on earlier longleaf investment dating back to 2004 through the Longleaf Legacy Program funded with Southern Company. Since LLSF's inception, the partnership has invested more than $151 million and leveraged an additional $131 million in matching contributions, for a total conservation impact of $282 million.
NFWF coordinates this work with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of War, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bezos Earth Fund, International Paper's Forestland Stewards Partnership, Southern Company, Altria Group, Amazon Web Services, Occidental, the Orton Foundation, and Energy Transfer, in support of the broader America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative's goal of restoring 8 million acres.
Wildlife and Landowner Impact Across Nine States
The newly funded projects will advance restoration across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, establishing more than 30,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat through plantings and completing prescribed burns on an additional 350,000 acres. Grantees will engage private landowners through workshops, training, and one-on-one technical assistance, since the longleaf landscape is predominantly privately owned.
The projects are expected to benefit at-risk species including the gopher tortoise, red-cockaded woodpecker, and eastern indigo snake through captive breeding and release programs, along with amphibians such as the frosted flatwoods salamander and Carolina gopher frog through restoration of ephemeral wetland breeding habitat. Game species including wild turkey and northern bobwhite are also expected to benefit from forest thinning that allows more sunlight to reach the forest floor and supports native groundcover growth.
