Reyhane Rastgoo: Saving the longleaf pine from extinction

This piece was written in the spring of 2025 by GRAD 5144 (Communicating Science) student Priscilla Atim as part of an assignment to interview a classmate and write a news story about her research.
The longleaf pine tree was once so abundant in the United States, says Reyhane Rastgoo, that a squirrel could travel from Virginia all the way to Texas without touching the ground. With just a fraction of that vast ecosystem now remaining, Rastgoo is passionate about restoration of the longleaf pine — and she also wants to improve our understanding of what impacts the participation of landowners in restoration efforts.
A second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech, Rastgoo considers herself a conservation social scientist. Her work focuses on the social aspects of conservation and human dimensions of natural resources.

The number of longleaf pine trees has decreased by 95 percent, and the species is facing extinction, Rastgoo says. She seeks to raise awareness about ongoing restoration efforts to protect this species and explore ways to better support landowners. Restoring longleaf pine, native to the United States, will prevent its extinction and help stem the cultural loss associated with it.
Previously, Rastgoo obtained her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Tehran in Iran. Due to her high GPA, she was awarded a scholarship to pursue her master’s degree, waiving the entrance exam requirement.
While pursuing her master’s program in biodiversity conservation and management, she was introduced to the field of human dimensions and developed a deep interest.

Rastgoo studied attitudes toward brown bears in Iran, where she interviewed 390 people across 26 villages to understand their views about brown bears. After obtaining her master’s degree, she worked, studied, and learned more about conservation social science for three years. When she later came across a graduate research assistantship advertisement from Dayer lab at Virginia Tech, she applied and was admitted into the program.
Rastgoo’s Ph.D. research focuses on social aspects of restoring longleaf pine forests in the United States. This work aims to improve understanding of the motivations and challenges that landowners face in participating in conservation efforts aimed at restoring longleaf pine trees.

Rastgoo’s work is novel due to limited existing literature on her research topic and is part of a collaborative research effort with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that will continue through 2028. She is currently preparing to conduct interviews with landowners to better understand their needs and challenges related to participating in restoration efforts, with the goal of providing more effective support. The days of treetop travel from Virginia to Texas may be over, but Rastgoo hopes to help save the species from extinction — with the help of landowners who own the land that longleaf pines grow on.