January 2021 Longleaf Partnership Council Meeting

The Longleaf Partnership Council (LPC) gathered Council members, partners, and friends of longleaf to hold the now quarterly virtual meeting on January 26, 2021.  These meetings give the LPC the chance to discuss ongoing activities in support of longleaf pine restoration to reach the eight million acre goal called for in The Range-wide Conservation Plan for Longleaf Pine as well as attend to the business needs of the LPC. 

The LPC welcomed a new longleaf implementation team, Heartland LIT in southern Florida!  Heartland LIT, led by Rosalind Rowe, is the 18^th local implementation team and located near Avon Park Air Force Range.  With the new LIT designation, the LPC has also been exploring a set of  best management practices and spatial prioritization recommendations for existing LITs.

LPC members also listened to presentations and engaged in discussions on the following topics:

• A guest presentation from Sean Sellers of the University of Florida on the results of a study on the feasibility and potential of developing payments for watershed services to serve as a market-based tool to incentivize cultivation, retention, and management of longleaf pine by private landowners;
• Updates on the SE FireMap project and the Longleaf Ecosystems Occurrence Geodatabase project, with an optional session following the meeting to provide input on the LEO Geodatabase;
• An update on 2021 Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund proposals;
• Discussion regarding potential opportunities for longleaf restoration within the new administration; and
• Additional updates to the LPC roster and a “get to know you” session on the newest Private Landowner Representative, Bill Owen.

The next LPC meeting to be held virtually April 27, 2021.

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