By Bill Finch, Director

For more than a week this October, we’ve been spending days at The Nature Conservancy’s Chitwood Barrens Nature Preserve in northeast Alabama because it preserves one of our most important but increasingly rare trees: the shortleaf pine. 

The shortleaf pine encapsulates the Cumberland Plateau’s richest assortment of wildflowers and wildlife. And it’s all here because The Nature Conservancy preserved the legacy of fire at Chitwood Barrens. 

Fire, shortleaf pine, wildflowers, and wildlife have an ancient bond here in Alabama. They depend on each other. When we forgot that, we lost most of the state’s richest forest systems, the pine savannas that once spread in meadows as far as the eye can see.

We want to help Alabama landowners restore those rich fields of trees, wildlife, and wildflowers. That’s why we’re making like squirrels in the trees, collecting shortleaf pine cones as fast as we can before the first blast of winter sends seeds flying. The seedlings from our collections will be available this fall. Learn how you can restore your own forest with these valuable seeds here.

You don’t need to be a huge conservation organization to do this work. All you need to get these trees growing is a good piece of land, some winter rain, a lot of sunshine, and a sprinkle of fire when the time is right.