Longleaf Forever is a short documentary film that plunges viewers into one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. Home to hundreds of rare plants and animals, longleaf pine forests once covered 90 million acres in the American South. Today, conservationists and land managers are turning a history of habitat loss and decline into a hopeful environmental story of renewal. We hear from women and men who care passionately about these landscapes and the species which live within them: a forester in rural Georgia, a Native longleaf needle basket maker in South Carolina, a young botanist from Atlanta, and fire ecologists on the Florida Panhandle.
The film begins with an introduction by a forester who has spent his life conserving longleaf ecosystems in Georgia's Red Hills. The focus shifts to the remarkable life cycle of longleaf pines, beginning with seedlings that grow into 100-foot trees. In South Carolina, a Native pine needle basket maker narrates how the histories of Indigenous peoples and longleaf forests are intertwined. In Florida, we discover the essential role of fire in longleaf forests, where animals, insects, and plants have evolved to thrive with regular cycles of fire. With 1.3 million acres of new longleaf planted, the future of these ancient forest looks more hopeful. USA Dir. Laura Albritton