The Shortleaf Pine Initiative

There’s something special about a sunset framed by shortleaf pines. This one was shared with us tonight by a friend in Huntsville, AL.
Do you have a favorite sunset tree photo?

On this day in 1907, the Ouachita National Forest, originally called the Arkansas National Forest, was created through an executive order issued by President Theodore Roosevelt. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot remarked at the time that this national forest was the only major shortleaf pine forest under the federal government’s protection. In January 1908, the Arkansas Sentinel newspaper reprinted an article from Forestry and Irrigation Magazine that praised the hearty spirit of cooperation manifested by Arkansas’s people and spoke of benefits to be gained by the conservation of timber supplies. Read more here: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ouachita-national-forest-3148/

While walking my Picnic Pocket Prairie watching the sun rise on these two shortleaf pines this week, it reminded me that in my younger, single, Thoreauback days I used to dabble in poetry. The only one that stuck in my mind was this one from a sunrise trip to work in Cherokee County:
Sunlight makes the garden shine,
crowns a king the tallest pine.
Like golden strands the heavens threw,
to meet the morn and kiss the dew.
Greg Grant, 1996

Day 2 of the 6th Biennial Shortleaf Pine Conference was spent in the field--and it was a magical day with even better weather!

We toured Little River Canyon, exploring fire-adapted landscapes and rare plant communities, and visited Woodville, AL to see practical shortleaf management and fire restoration in action.

See someone you know? @ them in the comments!