Throughout the Southeast, foresters and activists are coming together to restore America’s longleaf pine forests. The Nature Conservancy reports that longleaf pines once dominated the coastal plain, covering more than 90 million acres. Now there are just 5.2 million acres. In Mississippi, more than two million longleaf pine seedlings have been planted in the past several years, according to the Natural Forest Foundation. This state-wide replanting has restored about 4,000 acres of natural habitat, stretching across the DeSoto, Bienville and Homochitto National Forests. Greene County timber company owner Dillon McInnis is part of the movement to restore the longleaf species to Mississippi’s landscape.