Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: The Longleaf Pine as a Source of Food, Medicine, and Craft for Tribal Nations of the Southeast

North Carolina Botanical Garden 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

This talk will explore how the longleaf pine, a native tree of the Southeast, provides food, medicine, and craft materials for various tribes such as the Lumbee, the Waccamaw Siouan, and the Coharie. Nancy Fields will share examples of how the longleaf pine was historically used and continues to be used today in various aspects of tribal life, culture, and history.

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk – Longleaf Pine Restoration Benefits: The Perspective of a Landowner and Forest Manager

North Carolina Botanical Garden 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

Longleaf pine forests once covered over 90 million acres of the Southeast, but they have been reduced to less than 5 million acres today. Restoring longleaf pine ecosystems is a challenging but rewarding endeavor that requires patience, knowledge, and passion. In this talk, a current forest manager and landowner will share his experience and insights on restoring his family’s land with longleaf pine, and how he has benefited from its superior timber quality, pine straw income, and wildlife habitat. He will also discuss the current and future economic value of longleaf pine forests, and how they can help landowners diversify their income streams, reduce risks, and enhance environmental quality. This talk is intended for a general public audience who wants to learn more about longleaf pine restoration, including its economic benefits to the landowner, from a boots-on-the-ground perspective.

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Recognizing the Significance of Private Landowners in the Restoration of Longleaf Pine

North Carolina Botanical Garden 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

Ninety percent of North Carolina’s land is in private ownership. The role of private landowners in longleaf pine restoration is extremely important, not only for the ecosystem itself, but for the landowners and their families. In this talk, John Ann Shearer will demonstrate how private landowners have played a significant role in longleaf pine restoration in North Carolina over the last 25 years. The NC Longleaf Coalition’s Longleaf Honor Roll recognizes model landowners. John Ann will share the goals, criteria, and nomination process for the Honor Roll as well as examples of landowners who have been recognized for their excellent land stewardship.

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Science and Restoration in the Longleaf Ecosystem: Stories from the North Carolina Botanical Garden

North Carolina Botanical Garden 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

The longleaf pine ecosystem is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot, hosting an amazing diversity of plants and animals including many found nowhere else on earth. However, we have lost the majority of this ecosystem to development, land conversion and fire suppression. In this talk, Michael Kunz, Director of Conservation Programs at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, will share some of the ways the Garden is involved in the conservation this regions’ unique flora through our science and restoration efforts. Throughout this talk, he will discuss challenges and opportunities for longleaf in NC and beyond.

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk – From Conflict to Collaboration: How Conservation Partnerships are Helping Save an Imperiled Ecosystem

North Carolina Botanical Garden 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

The longleaf pine ecosystem is one of the most biologically diverse in North America, and the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker is one of its most iconic species. In the 1990s, populations of this woodpecker in the NC Sandhills were critically low. The largest population was on Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), but the Army did not want to alter training or land management. Private landowners mistrusted government agencies and were cutting their longleaf rather than see an endangered bird move in. It had the makings of a classic environmental conflict, until some forward-thinking people decided they had more to gain from solving the underlying problem than fighting each other. What resulted was the invention of several key programs that are now used nation-wide, the recovery of the Sandhills population, and a partnership that became a model for how to do collaborative conservation. This talk will discuss longleaf conservation efforts in NC and across the range and will explore how the lessons learned from the Sandhills can be applied to other environmental conflicts. This talk is part of the Saving our Savannas: Stories of the Longleaf Pine exhibition, which explores the history, ecology, and culture of the longleaf pine ecosystem.

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk – Gone with the Wind: Sherman’s March Through the Longleaf Pine Forests of North Carolina

North Carolina Botanical Garden 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

Earl Ijames, Curator of African American History and Agriculture at the North Carolina Museum of History, Kevin Melvin, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, will explore the history of Sherman’s March (Anson/ Richmond Counties) to April 1865 (Historic Bennett Place), including the impact on people, environment, and economy of the region.