Page 17 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Fourth Quarter 2024

“In understanding the past of enslaved Africans in the longleaf pine forests, we are
able to better grasp the importance of conservation, especially in the role of minorities
in conservation today. Even though the forests once expanded the use of slavery,
The Nature Conservancy, in its restoration efforts, shifts the role of the forests from
their troublesome past to a more positive role in protecting the climate.”
— Emmy Dasanaike
By Emmy Dasanaike, former
intern, The Nature Conservancy
Preserve, it is easy to
Standing in Calloway Forest
appreciate the natural beauty
and serenity of the longleaf
pine forest. The stands of
trees are stoic and spread apart, allowing
one to see straight through the trees, a
striking experience for a stranger to the
forest. The tall, scaly longleaf pine is
shaped almost like a candelabra, with
long pine needles that distinguish it
from the similar loblolly or shortleaf pine
trees that are common here in North
Carolina. Before working at The Nature
Conservancy, I would never have noticed
the slight differences in the conifer trees.
Still, after studying the longleaf pine,
I realize it is so much more than long
needles that make the tree unique.
The trees are drought-, wind-, pest-,
and, most importantly, fire-resistant. The
longleaf has a unique relationship with
fire, complex enough to write a separate
narrative on. The longleaf is a keystone
species, as it promotes fire in a fire-
dependent environment. The trees thrive
in low-intensity fires, which clear the
understory of the forests and allow the
trees to spread their seeds and reproduce.
In their two longleaf pine forest
preserves in North Carolina, Calloway
Forest in the Sandhills region and the
Green Swamp in Brunswick County,
The Nature Conservancy uses controlled
burning to maintain the forests and
encourage new growth and an open
space for the trees. Similarly, on his
property, Lighterwood Farm, Jesse
Wimberley of the Sandhills Prescribed
Burn Association utilizes fire to achieve
land management.
There were once 92 million acres
of piney forests that stretched along the
Southeast from Virginia through Texas.
These forests were cleared to about 3.2
million acres, and because of restoration
efforts, now stretch to 5.3 million acres.
The vast clearing of these forests was
a tragedy, but the hands that cut the
trees were part of a more encompassing
devastation. Enslaved Africans performed
most of the tasks to collect the longleaf
pine materials. Various newspaper
clippings from the 1800s in the Southern
Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel
Hill show mainly enslaved Black men
performing labor in the forests.
Jesse Wimberley’s great-grandfather
was the overseer of a longleaf plantation,
hired under a plantation owner, and
the land on which he lives dates all the
way back to when there was enslaved
labor on the land. When visiting his
farm, Wimberley spoke not only of the
importance of fire and conservation of
the longleaf but also of the vitality of
remembering the history of the longleaf
and those who worked in the forests.
Since the economy of North Carolina
was so immensely shaped by the naval
stores and lumber industries, it is
important to remember and acknowledge
the labor and the adversity that enslaved
Blacks endured on these plantations.
Throughout my internship, I explored
the history of the longleaf and how
the demand for longleaf pine products
contributed to the expanded use of
enslaved labor during this period in our
state’s history.
Naval Stores
According to The Journal of Southern
History, the term “naval stores” originally
included hemp, flax, masts, spars,
planking, tar, and pitch. Still, by 1800,
the name had evolved to encompass
tar, raw turpentine, and turpentine
derivatives. Tar is a thick, dark liquid
that, in the forests of North Carolina,
was produced by firing pine branches
and logs in kilns. The substance was
often spread on the ropes of sailing
vessels to fortify the cords. Pitch,
made from boiling tar, was applied
to the outside of wooden ships to
strengthen against leakage. David
Silkenat, in his book Scars on the Land:
An Environmental History of Slavery in the
American South, states that naval stores
became the South’s third largest export,
exceeded only by cotton and tobacco,
and processed lumber overtook cotton
as a growth industry. Planters began to
see forests in a new light: no longer an
obstacle to eliminate before planting
cotton, but instead, a valuable resource
for extraction.
Shipbuilding became a major
consumer of Southern timber, with
shipwrights in the Chesapeake and
South Carolina relying on it for masts
and decking. The largest consumer of
Southern timber was domestic demand,
mainly for building plantation houses
and enslaved laborers’ quarters, built
© EMERSON DASANAIKE/ TNC
Jesse Wimberley holds a photo of enslaved
laborers working on longleaf pine forests.
This article has been reprinted with permission by
The Nature Conservancy. It was originally published in
February 2024. Scan the QR code to access the article.
ncforestry.org / FOURTH QUARTER 2024 15