Paint Rock Shortleaf Seedlings
A Keystone Tree of the South
The mountain-top plateaus surrounding the Paint Rock Valley were once covered in a forest unlike anything most folks have ever seen: a sun-drenched savanna with rolling hills of stately shortleaf pines over waving meadows of grasses and wildflowers. Wildlife abounded: quail and grouse, deer, buffalo and elk.
Today we are at risk of losing the last fragments of our eastern shortleaf savannas. The U.S. Forest Service has identified shortleaf pine as one of the country’s most resilient trees, with excellent potential to not only survive the coming changes in climate but to thrive and expand its range in the midst of it.
With a generous grant from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, we’ve been collecting the precious seeds of shortleaf pines, the first time anyone had made a major effort to collect eastern shortleaf seed in almost a century.
Seed Collected Across Alabama and Tennessee
Grow our Future Shortleaf Savannas
Shortleaf pines are pillars of resilient landscapes—supporting hundreds of species of wildflowers, grasses, and critters. They’re vital to the future of forests throughout eastern North America. The US Forest Service has even identified shortleaf pines as one of the country’s most resilient trees.
Not any shortleaf seedling will do. To plant for a strong future of thriving savannas, the shortleaf seedling needs the adaptations for this area encoded in its seed. It needs the history of the Southeast written in its cones. It needs the right local genetics. Our team has worked hard to gather, process, and produce the largest stock of shortleaf seedlings native to the Cumberland Plateau region, viable for growers in the Southeast.
When you purchase a stock of Paint Rock shortleaf seedlings, you are not just buying a tree. You are supporting a new future where quail and turkey and more return in abundance, where our forests can stand up to any changes to come.
$300/1,000 seedlings*
*Delivery available on request; reach out to discuss delivery charge.
- Conservation Nonprofits
- Landowners
- Land Trusts
- Government Agencies & Municipalities
- More
Not Ready to Plant?
Our shortleaf pine experts are available to support your shortleaf pine restoration project. On the ground or remotely, we can help assess your restoration site and offer guidance for prepping and shortleaf planting.
