Texas Longleaf Task Force
Draft Strategic Plan
02-01-2010
Background
Texas Forest Service (TFS) and US Forest Service National Forests and Grasslands in
Texas (USFS) hosted a joint meeting in Lufkin, Texas on January 21, 2010 to begin discussions of
a multi-stakeholder effort to support longleaf pine restoration. Both agencies agreed to
oversee a multi-organizational effort (hereafter the Texas Longleaf Restoration Task Force) to
describe the collective and ongoing longleaf restoration activities in the East Texas area. TFS,
USFS, and other agencies/partners share the common goals to accelerate longleaf ecosystem
restoration on private forestlands adjacent to federal lands, and to better position the state for
program funding that provides assistance to rural landowners. The Texas Longleaf Restoration
Task Force can serve to support the larger, range-wide America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative
(hereafter Initiative), whose purpose is to increase longleaf pine acreage from 3.4 to 8.0 million
acres in the next 15 years. A Range-wide Conservation Plan for Longleaf Pine serves to guide
actions and strategies of the Initiative. Within the Conservation Plan, sixteen “Significant
Geographic Areas” or SGAs have been identified to spatially target longleaf restoration; at least
half of targeted acreage from Conservation Plan’s goal is identified in these SGAs. In Texas,
there are two SGAs centered on the following public lands: (1) Sabine/Angelina National
Forests, and (2) Big Thicket National Preserve.
Purpose of Strategic Plan
The purpose of this document is to outline a potential framework to capture the
collective efforts of longleaf restoration in Texas, and to organize and prioritize future strategies
that can support and accelerate longleaf restoration. Several follow-up actions were identified
by the Task Force to target; the list below is not meant to be exhaustive but instead some initial
first steps.
Task Force Actions/Strategies
The following are actions or strategies identified by the Texas Longleaf Restoration Task
Force to pursue in the next 2 months:
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Identify Partners for Task Force.—The initial meeting held in Lufkin, Texas did not
involve all potential partners likely to be interested in the effort. One follow-up action
was to continue to identify partners (e.g., TFA, private industry, etc.) and expand Task
Force membership. Furthermore, with the inclusion of other partners, further
refinement of specific needs to Texas should be considered.
Compile “Contributions Matrix”.—One goal of the Task Force meeting was to better
understand the collective efforts of agencies/partners with regard to longleaf pine
restoration in Texas. Other SGA local teams are collecting information via a
“contributions matrix”, a spreadsheet that identifies current efforts and types of
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management practices being implemented. A modified version of the contributions
matrix will be used to compile the collective efforts of Texas agencies/partners.
Priorities Target Areas.—Establish mapping team to identify overlapping “mission”
interests and serve to prioritize and target “areas of opportunities”. The mapping team
will compile and present information to the Task Force to facilitate informed
management decisions.
Host Landowner Tour.—Education and outreach with private landowners will determine
the overall success of the Initiative and Task Force. An initial education and outreach
strategy was to host a landowner tour to review practices and challenges in longleaf
restoration in East Texas.
Elevate Awareness of Texas Efforts.—Efforts by the Task Force can serve to support
range-wide efforts of America’s Longleaf. Conversely, elevating the awareness of Texas
efforts to leadership of the Initiative and Longleaf Alliance also can serve to facilitate
support at a regional/national level. The Task Force will continue to maintain contacts
with these key organizations.
Collectively, the above actions can provide the basis for developing a longleaf strategic plan in
East Texas and possibly Louisiana (could be a multi-state effort). The Task Force will explore
steps to develop such a plan to include the following key elements:
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Seed Sources.—Identification of seed sources and related materials are a limiting factor
in longleaf restoration. Overcoming these logistical challenges will need to be
addressed in order to be successful.
Technical Assistance.—Approximately 66% of lands in East Texas are privately-owned.
Thus, longleaf restoration success will largely be dependent on technical assistance and
resources needed by private landowners. Landowner incentives will play a fundamental
role in the longleaf restoration effort, and possible funding sources and strategies need
to be identified.
Funding Support.—Pathways to facilitate the rapid transfer of funds to landowners and
supporting programs will need to be identified and/or put in place. Existing state and
federal programs should be evaluated as to their capacity to serve as a mechanism to
deliver support to landowners for longleaf restoration. In addition, identification of the
various potential and appropriate funding sources also needs to be identified.
Organizational Structure.—Continued communication and evaluation of the state
strategic plan will periodically need to be updated or revisited. Initially, TFS & USFS will
provide coordination and oversight support for the Task Force. A plan to maintain
support of the Task Force in the future should be considered.
For more information, feel free to contact Jan Davis, TFS jdavis@tfs.tamu.edu or Kent Evans,
USFS kevans@fs.fed.us.