I participated in a planting event at The Nature Conservancy’s Piney Grove Preserve in Sussex County. Piney Grove was established to support recovery of Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) (Leuconotopicus borealis) and its very specific nesting requirements. (Here’s an observation from my North Carolina trip last year.) Over a long period of time (years), a bird excavates a nest cavity in a pine tree that has been infected with heart rot. Longleaf Pines (Pinus palustris) provide the best nest sites, and that’s what our group planted.
So why Longleaf Pine, rather than today’s dominant pine of this sandy Coastal Plain habitat, Loblolly Pine (P. taeda)? Loblollies grow fast and are short-lived, 60-100 years. By the time the tree has achieved a size suitable for digging a nest cavity, it has only about 20 years to live. A Longleaf, on the other hand, can live for centuries, providing good nest habitat for much longer. Further, RCWs peck out resin wells around the nest opening, as a predator deterrent, and Longleafs are particularly good at producing resin.
Longleafs are also adapted to regular fire, both as seedlings and as mature trees. In seedlings like these one-year-old trees, the terminal bud (where all the upward growth happens) is protected by the surrounding clump of leaves (needles); also note the deep root system for such a young tree.
To plant one of these seedlings, you open a narrow trench in the soil with a dibble bar (put your weight into it!), set the seedling with its crown level with the soil, then wedge the trench closed with the dibble. Hey presto! A newly-planted Longleaf Pine. My teammate Travis and I planted about 40 of them: Travis did most of the heavy work. (This chap demonstrates approximately what we did.)