[2] At the end of the 19th century, the longleaf pine ecosystem covered millions of acres across the southeastern US, from Virginia to Texas.

[3] In the early 1900s, aggressive harvesting of these old-growth pine forests resulted in a barren landscape in need of reforestation.

Under federal programs such as the Weeks Act and Clarke-McNary Act,[4] the US government began buying thousands of cutover acres in Louisiana and other southeastern states to create National Forests with the goal of rehabilitating these former old-growth forests.

[5] The Palustris Experimental Forest was established July 19, 1935[1] on 2,700 acres (1,100 ha) of cutover land that was previously occupied by longleaf pine.

[6] The experimental forest was to serve as a field laboratory for evaluating pine reforestation techniques.