Journal

NRI Partners Awarded Grants Through America the Beautiful Challenge

The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program is pleased to join the Council on Environmental Quality and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) in announcing over $141 million in grants through the new America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC). The 74 new grants will support projects that conserve, restore, and connect habitats for wildlife while improving community and installation resilience across 46 states and three U.S. territories.

Range-wide Conservation Plan for Longleaf Pine Released

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests once dominated the landscape of the Southeastern United States. From the Atlantic coastal plain of southeastern Virginia to the West Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas, these forests encompassed over 90 million acres and represented an extraordinary wealth and diversity of cultural, ecological, and socio-economic values.

When America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative (America’s Longleaf) was first formed, the extent of longleaf pine forests had been greatly reduced with an estimated 3.4 million acres remaining. Through the collaborative restoration and conservation efforts of partners involved in America’s Longleaf, that downward trend has been reversed and the current data indicate that the acreage of longleaf pine has increased to approximately 5.2 million acres. This progress is encouraging, but there is still much work to be done to achieve the restoration goals outlined in this Conservation Plan.

Special Announcement: The Coca-Cola Foundation, Silk, Google, Meta, and Microsoft Fund Longleaf Pine Restoration in East Texas

The Coca-Cola Foundation, Silk (a Danone North America brand), Google, Meta, and Microsoft are coming together to collaboratively invest $972,000 to restore 2,000 acres of longleaf pine forest on private lands in Trinity County, Texas. Coordinated by the Texas Longleaf Team, with support from Texan by Nature, the restoration will entail managing and removing invasive plants, conducting prescribed fire, and planting approximately 100,000 Longleaf Pine seedlings over the course of five to ten years to create a healthy Longleaf Pine ecosystem that will filter and store freshwater, sequester carbon, support biodiversity, and benefit the community.

America's Longleaf releases the 2021 range-wide accomplishments report

America's Longleaf released the new 2021 Range-wide Accomplishment Report showcasing a landmark year and the success of tireless efforts across the 9-state historic range to bring back longleaf pine.

HEB Funds Texas Longleaf Team’s Longleaf Pine Conservation

The Texas Longleaf Team is excited to partner with HEB to promote the restoration of the longleaf ecosystem in support of private landowners and rural communities in East Texas. Their support will promote carbon sequestration, water infiltration, biodiversity, recreation, and rural economies.  

New film: How the Texas Longleaf Team works with landowners to restore the longleaf ecosystem

The NRI Texas Longleaf Team recently had a chance to work with Texan by Nature to produce a film celebrating the work we do, highlighting one of our landowner partners, Pine Island. 

ALRI Celebrates Landmark Year With 2020 Range-wide Accomplishment Report

America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative released its 2020 Range-wide Accomplishment Report celebrating a decade’s worth of accomplishments and significant progress towards restoring longleaf pine. 

Calling all landowners: a two-minute survey about longleaf pine

To amplify our restoration impacts in East Texas, we developed a short survey to learn more about how we can best serve possible landowner partners. 

CultureMap: Laura Bush nature group picks 4 Texas conservation projects to help

Texas conservation nonprofit Texan by Nature has named its picks for conservation projects for 2021, which include water, pine trees, birds, and horned lizards.

TLIT Named 2021 Conservation Wrangler by Texan by Nature

Texan by Nature (TxN), a Texas-led conservation non-profit today announces the selection of the 2021 Conservation Wranglers. Conservation Wrangler is an accelerator program that catalyzes the very best Texan-led conservation projects occurring in the state. Selected projects are science-based and demonstrate a positive Return on Conservation for people, prosperity, and natural resources.

A Story Map: Texas Longleaf Landscapes

Explore the historic southeast range of Texas longleaf with us as we dive into their richly diverse conservation value. 

The Landowner Longleaf Challenge: A case study

Finally, as the campaign came to a close in 2019, we took a real look at how a digital data campaign created face-to-face connections, putting the social back in social media and trees in the ground. 

From Facebook timeline to longleaf lifeline

Through a partnership between the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute and the Texas Longleaf Taskforce, a counterpart of the America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative working to restore longleaf pine ecosystems on private and public forestlands in Texas, the Landowner Longleaf Challenge launched in March of this year gaining an unrivaled momentum over the last 5 months. 

The Texas Longleaf Taskforce is developing new efforts to reach forest landowners

The Texas Longleaf Taskforce launched a campaign to reach more Texas forest landowners looking to bring back the longleaf pine by connecting to longleaf resource specialists.