Sharing the Longleaf Story at the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Conference
July 15, 2024
The Longleaf Alliance was pleased to join the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) at their annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia in June 2024. This year’s conference explored innovative solutions to conserve, sustainably manage, and restore Forests for the Future.
Growing & Maintaining Resilient Forests
Throughout the conference sessions, leaders from the conservation and forestry industries emphasized how sustainable forest management advances climate and fire resiliency. Working in the southeastern United States, we are all too familiar with the increasing threats that windstorms, drought, and wildfire pose to our communities and forests.
Despite this uncertainty, longleaf pine offers a solution for the future.
Carol Denhof, The Longleaf Alliance President, presented in the Fire Resiliency Strategies and Opportunities session, sharing how TLA and our partners support prescribed fire management with cooperative field crews, landowner and professional training, and education and outreach. Regular prescribed burning in longleaf forests reduces the risk of catastrophic losses from wildfire while also promoting native plants and habitat for wildlife.
Conservation of Species at Risk
Attendees also learned how SFI certification provides incentives that drive innovative policy solutions and public-private collaborations to promote the conservation of species at-risk on private lands.
The longleaf landscape is home to the rarest and most imperiled plants and animals on the continent. With proper management, longleaf forest have superior native groundcover and wildlife/pollinator habitats, while also providing merchantable products for landowners.
Bringing Partners Together
Thank you to SFI for hosting a great event and creating a space where we can share our work and build on our network of partners. We learned about best practices and cutting-edge research on promoting climate-adapted landscapes, and how our work relates with SFI objectives to grow resilient forests and communities.
