Restoration of this area's historic longleaf pine ecosystem is at the heart of the latest initiative announced by Environmental Impact Resource Conservation and Development Inc. (EIRCD).

Terry Myers, EIRCD director, says his organization has received funding for the project from the Natural Resources Conser-vation Service, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The purpose is to assist landowners with enhancement of longleaf pine trees in Moore and Richmond counties.

Environmental Impact is a regional nonprofit natural resource and community development agency based in Aberdeen.

In carrying out the long-

leaf project, EIRCD will be working in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, N.C. State University, the N.C. Division of Forest Resources and the soil and water conservation districts serving both Moore County and Richmond County.

EIRCD personnel will meet one on one with landowners interested in enhancing their longleaf pine forests and will provide information about technical assistance and available cost-sharing programs.

The agency will conduct a detailed evaluation of the property to determine the most beneficial practices for that particular property.

Myers says some landowners may qualify for cost-sharing programs providing financial assistance to implement such conservation practices as planting longleaf pines, installing firebreaks, conducting prescribed burning and controlling invasive plants.

More information is available by calling Environmental Impact RC&D at (910) 944-4787 or by e-mail at environmentalimpact@windstream.net.

At one time longleaf pine forests covered more than 90 million acres throughout the southeastern United States. Only 2 to 3 percent of that forest remains today.

Longleaf pine forests can provide habitat for as many as 300 different species of plants per acre and 60 percent of the amphibian and reptile species found in the Southeast. Many of these species are classified today as either endangered or threatened.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at florence@thepilot.com.