The Last Straw
As North Florida’s timber industry faces hurricanes and mill closures, some landowners turn to a copper-colored side hustle: pine straw. Are the human and environmental costs worth it? Lea la serie en español aquí.
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Ox-drawn wagon full of pine needles used for country roads in Lake County, Florida circa 1890
(Via Florida Memory)
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Growers plant pines in neat rows for ease of harvesting. (Courtesy of Pat Minogue)
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Workers load bales onto a flatbed for transport to the edge of the pine stand.
(Rose Schnabel / WUFT News)
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Crews often supply their own baling equipment.
(via Pat Minogue)
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Bales are loaded into semi trailers for interstate transport.
(Rose Schnabel / WUFT News)
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Pine producers looking to diversify their streams of revenue have a "gimme": the dead needles that cover the forest floor. -
Crews disproportionately made of young, Mexican men bale pine straw by hand. They're not always fairly compensated. -
Pine straw provides nutrients to the forest floor as it degrades. Landowners must replace what they take.
