
	Triangle Land Conservancy 1101 Haynes Street Suite 205 Raleigh, NC 27604 919.833.3662

TLC Thinning Trees at White Pines

Loblolly harvest is part of project to enhance white pine population

Chainsaws are almost as common as deer and squirrels in the woodlands of Chatham County, but at the White Pines Preserve they’re as uncommon as elk and buffalo.

Triangle Land Conservancy has been protecting this nationally significant natural area located at the crook of the Deep and Rocky rivers since the mid-1980s, gradually adding tracts over the years to create the current 275-acre preserve. In that time, the only chainsaw buzzing heard here was in 1996 when volunteers came to clear the trails after Hurricane Fran.

Now the chainsaws are back, and this time not just for a clean up. TLC is putting in action a plan to ensure the survival of the white pine population at the preserve. Part of that plan includes thinning several stands of loblolly pine on about 100 acres. The loblolly harvest will allow TLC to spread the white pine to new areas of the preserve.

Thousands of years ago, during the last ice age, eastern white pine (pinus strobus) spread all over North Carolina. As temperatures warmed and the glaciers retreated north, the white pine retreated with them to cooler climates. Now, white pine is common in the North Carolina mountains and even the foothills, but the population in Chatham County is quite uncommon – its nearest kin reside about 75 miles away near Hanging Rock in Stokes County. The white pine has hung on here thanks to a cool microclimate created by the two rivers and several north-facing slopes that don’t take the brunt of the summer sun.

White Pines Thinning in the News

Changing preserve's landscape
Chapel Hill Herald
October 4, 2004

White pine sanctuary
The News & Observer
October 9, 2004

A haven for the white pine
The Chapel Hill News
October 10, 2004

Protecting the existing stands of this rare population of white pine and ensuring the perpetuation of the species here are TLC’s top two conservation objectives for the White Pines Preserve.

To that end, TLC commissioned a study of the white pine population by a North Carolina State University forestry class in the fall of 2003. The study showed that the white pine population, particularly the population of young trees, is under severe pressure from deer browse (eating) and antler rubbing.

Antler rubbing by deer scars young white pines like this one, dramatically decreasing their chances of survival to maturity.

TLC has determined the best way to ensure the survival of the white pine population is to increase the total number of white pine trees and to spread the white pine to new areas of the preserve. A three-step action plan will make it happen, and here’s where the chainsaws come in.

The first step is to thin part of a 106-acre stand of 35-year-old loblolly pine planted when a paper company owned this portion of the property. TLC will thin the loblollies to a density that will allow just the right amount of light to the forest floor to grow white pine, while providing less optimal conditions for faster-growing species like sweetgum and maple. The thinning operation began in mid-October and will continue through mid-November.

The second step in the plan is to propagate white pine seedlings from the preserve population. TLC will collect cones from the existing white pine population and turn them over to the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) tree nursery in Goldsboro, which will extract and plant the seeds.

Stewardship Director Tom Craven points out an area of loblolly pines decimated by beetles at White Pines. This area will be part of the thinning program.

The final step will come in the winter of 2007. At that time, TLC will gather approximately 50,000 two-year-old seedlings from the NCFS nursery and plant them all over the White Pines Preserve.

“This project is a winner on many sides,” said Tom Craven, TLC’s stewardship director. “TLC will make a little money selling the loblollies we harvest. Chatham County taxpayers will benefit because TLC will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale to the county. And most importantly, the white pine population will be significantly more robust and the preserve that much more enjoyable for visitors.”

“TLC performing a timber harvest may raise some eyebrows in the community, but we’re confident this is being done for a greater good – the long-term health of the white pine forest – and in an environmentally sensitive way,” said Kevin Brice, TLC’s executive director. “We have a responsibility to steward the land in our care as best we can for the benefit of future generations. If that means taking an active management role, as in this case, we’re going to do that.”