Washington, DC—On Monday, June 28 the Obama Administration will visit Charleston, South Carolina as part of the Americas’ Great Outdoors Listening Tour. The administration wants to learn more about one of the country’s largest forest ecosystem restoration efforts—the restoration of longleaf pine. The listening session will be held at Founders Hall, Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site in Charleston, South Carolina from 1:00p.m.-5:00p.m.

Considered one of the most species-rich ecosystems in the United States, longleaf pine once covered more than 90 million acres. Now, with only three million acres remaining, it is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. In South Carolina alone, almost two-thirds of the remaining longleaf pine forests are located on family forest lands.

The good news is this is roughly double the longleaf acres that existed 15 years ago, when only 1.2 million acres of longleaf remained. This restoration effort is due in large part to family forest owners who own more than 58 percent of the land in the Southeast.

Skeet Burris, a family forest owner, began restoration of longleaf pine on his family property in the 1980s. "I guess I was ahead of my time when I started the restoration project,” said Burris. "At first, I took about 10 acres and experimented with longleaf because I knew it would provide excellent wildlife habitat." With assistance from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Skeet and his family began planting seedlings and now regularly utilizes prescribed fire on 30 acres of longleaf to improve the health of the stands. "The restoration of the longleaf is not only important to me and my family, it’s vital to South Carolina," added Burris.

Paul Williams of the Green Swamp Hunt Club of Hampton, South Carolina, planted longleaf seedlings on 52-acres of a cut-over tree stand, with help from the American Forest Foundation. His efforts to restore the longleaf pine ecosystem are supporting the area’s current habitat values, as well as helping to protect the gopher tortoise, a threatened species that relies solely on the longleaf pine ecosystem for survival.

"More family forest owners could participate in restoration efforts if better policies and incentives were put in place to provide assistance," noted Burris. "In addition to investments in direct restoration of longleaf ecosystems, family forest owners need the right tax incentives, access to traditional wood products markets as well as new emerging markets for ecosystem services. Ensuring healthy markets for forest land owners helps keep forests healthy because landowners have the resources needed to reinvest in their woodlands," said Burris.

"For example, the U.S. Green Building Council only recognizes one certification program and not the American Tree Farm System® certification. This means that in the state of South Carolina, nearly one million acres of sustainably managed timber is not approved for use in green buildings. This shuts out South Carolina family forest owners from a vital market for their wood," said Burris.

In addition, federal policies such as the federal estate tax often forces families to sell their land to developers or harvest their timber unsustainably, to pay taxes.

"The Obama Administration is undertaking important efforts to restore this important ecosystem and there is much more to do to help family forest owners protect America’s forests. We encourage the administration to consider a broad range of market-oriented tools, tax incentives, and conservation investments to truly conserve America’s family-owned forests—which make up more than a third of America’s forested great outdoors," said Tom Martin, president and CEO of the American Forest Foundation.

"Private woodlands in America are key to protecting America's landscapes and account for more land than public forests. Providing essential benefits such as clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon storage and recreation to millions of citizens, family forests are fundamental to maintaining America’s conservation ethic and reconnecting people with nature," said Martin.

The American Forest Foundation is a national, nonprofit conservation organization helping family woodland owners manage their land for clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation, and job creation. The American Tree Farm System®, a program of the American Forest Foundation is the oldest and largest private sustainable forestry program in the United States. We are a network of 91,000 landowners managing 24.3 million acres of woodlands with the assistance from 4,679 volunteers and partners.