Longleaf pine flatwood savannas host an extra-long list of plants and animals — for starters, 216 rare species in Louisiana alone! They are recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot ecosystem, and they improve the quality of water, air, and soil, and help manage flooding. Yet few forest types in North America face greater threat of extinction.

Atira Conservation partnered with Trust for Public Land to acquire this 426-acre property, Flatwoods Savanna Wildlife Management Area, in Allen Parish, Louisiana. The purchase ensured that southwest Louisiana’s last remaining stand of old-growth longleaf pine — and the only site in the state with old-growth longleaf pines and unaltered flatwoods ponds — is now permanently protected and under the stewardship of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

This area of southwest Louisiana has been identified as an area of critical shortage of publicly accessible lands. This new protected land will help meet the need for public access to nature for people in southwest Louisiana. It will also provide the only place for people to experience old-growth longleaf pine forest. In the next year, hiking, birding, and hunting experiences will become available and will be just a short drive for many community members. Groups seeking to learn from this rare landscape, like local school groups and Louisiana master naturalist classes, will be welcomed.

Longleaf pine ecosystems provide critical ecological services for humans, wildlife and the environment (Bragg 2020). While they once encompassed more than 90 million acres in the southeastern United States (Stout & Marion 1993, Frost 2006, Americas Longleaf 2009), only 3-5% remains (McCaskill & Jose 2012, Brewer 2017). Currently, the longleaf pine ecosystem is one of the most threatened systems in North America (McCaskill & Jose 2012, Bragg 2020), and all types of longleaf pine natural communities in Louisiana are listed as imperiled or critically imperiled by the State Wildlife Action Plan (Holcolmb et al. 2015).

The unique and complex environmental conditions of the longleaf pine grasslands ecosystems provide habitat for an outstanding diversity of flora and fauna, including 60 percent of the amphibian and reptile species in the southeast and at least 122 threatened or endangered plant species (Ojha et al. 2021). In Louisiana, 216 rare species tracked by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Wildlife Diversity Program utilize or depend on longleaf pine natural communities, and many of these species that were once abundant are now considered imperiled or critically imperiled (Holcolmb et al. 2015).

• Property Cost: $1,896,000
• Atira Conservation Funding: $80,000