SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership Update

By Bobby Franklin, The Longleaf Alliance

Late winter and early spring has been a busy time between the Edisto and Savannah Rivers in South Carolina.  The ending of quail season brought with it wisps of smoke throughout the area as land managers started the age old tradition of prescribed burning in the region.  While folks burn earlier and later now, February-March is the traditional time to burn between the rivers.  It’s been challenging this year as wet weather played havoc with burning and getting longleaf planted.  Here’s hoping that wet weather will continue for our late planted seedlings, yet let up enough for some growing season prescribed burning in May and June.

SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership activities these past few months include:

• Cost sharing the planting of 364 acres of new longleaf pine in the project area.
• Participating at the Sewee Fire Fest in March.
• Assisting 35 landowners with longleaf management related questions.
• Participating in two local landowner association meetings, answering questions and disseminating longleaf pine information.
• Participating in the leadership of the South Carolina Tree Farm Committee.

Summer in the SoLoACE will be busy as we continue to recruit landowners for the various cost share programs offered by our project and our partners.  We will be hosting two longleaf academies this summer:

• Longleaf 101 at the UGA Conference Center in Aiken County, SC July 14-16, 2015
• Longleaf & Fire 201 at the Webb Wildlife Center in Hampton County, SC August 18-20, 2015

For additional details go to The Longleaf Alliance website calendar at www.longleafalliance.org

The SoLoACE Longleaf Partnership is a 3.9 million acre area between the Edisto and Savannah Rivers in South Carolina covering nine counties. 

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