Longleaf Pine Trees Give Us More than Just Wood 4 hours ago FILE - Longleaf pines, about 80 to 85 years old, stand tall in the DeSoto National Forest in Miss., on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Janet McConnaughey) Share share The URL has been copied to your clipboard 0:00 0:04:16 0:00 Pop-out player The longleaf pine tree has deep connections with the history and life of the eastern part of America. Forests of these trees once covered two-thirds of the southeastern United States. About 95 percent of those forests were lost in the past 100 years. Many of the forests were cut for their wood, but now they are returning, with the help of government programs that build ties with private landowners.