First Tree Farmer Conference a success
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he Arkansas Tree Farm program hosted its first Tree Farmer Conference on June 18 in Benton. Sixty landowners, natural resource managers and Tree Farm Committee members attended. Five states were represented. See pictures from the conference on the AFA Flickr page at https://goo.gl/8gMa5a “We are so pleased with this inaugural event,” said AFA Administrative Director Jennifer Lambert Johnson, who coordinates the Tree Farm program. “Our goal is to provide networking and learning opportunities for the state’s Tree Farmers.” Topics and speakers included: Tree Farm program update; 2014 Outstanding Tree Farmer John L. McClellan; Selling Trees, Pete Prutzman, Kingwood Forestry Service; Wildlife Management, Jeff Taverner, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission; and Insects and Pests, Caroll Guffey, UA Cooperative Extension Service. Thank you to the event sponsors: Deltic, Farm Credit Services and Sears - North Little Rock. Plans are underway for next year’s conference. If you would like to be part of the committee, contact Jennifer at 501374-2441 or jjohnson@arkforests.org.
State Forester Joe Fox (left) visits with 2014 Outstanding Tree Farmer John L. McClellan (center) and his son Doug McClellan (right) at the Arkansas Tree Farmer Conference, held June 18 in Benton.
July/August 2015
TCT participants see forestry up close
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his year’s Teacher Conservation Tour was based in Hot Springs, June 15-19. The 23 participating educators spent five days exploring forestry and conservation in a classroom setting and field tours, including the Arkansas Forestry Commission office in Malvern, ArborGen nursery in Bluff City, Green Bay Packaging forestland tour, Deltic sawmill in Ola, In-Woods Expo and Lake Hamilton. One teacher wrote the following on her TCT evaluation: This tour has significantly changed my perspective of modern forestry. It has eliminated a prejudice I felt regarding this industry. I see it as modern farming, employing conscientious control in a beneficial relationship with other ecosystems. Seeing a clear stream near a burned plot being prepared for planting and knowing both are necessary and responsibly tended during the process had the greatest impact upon me. I no longer see modern forestry as destructive. This tour was as enjoyable as it was informative.
See pictures on the AFA Flickr page at https://goo.gl/HWOdMb Many thanks to AFAEF Education Director Rob Beadel; TCT volunteers Caroll Guffey, Jim Grant and Tamara Walkingstick; partnering organizations and companies that provided tours; and the following sponsors, for making TCT a success. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Farm Credit Services of Western AR ArborGen Arkansas Pulpwood CPS-Timberland Deltic Timber Domtar Forest Investments Associates Georgia Pacific Green Bay Packaging Hancock Forest Management International Paper Kingwood Forestry Service Landowner Legacy Communications L.D. Long Maxwell Hardwoods Neeley Forestry Plum Creek Potlatch Price Companies Ray White Lumber RMS Timberlands Weyerhaeuser The 2015 Teacher Conservation Tour was based in Hot Springs, June 15-19. The 23 participating educators spent five days exploring forestry and conservation in a classroom setting and field tours. This picture was taken during the group’s tour of the Deltic mill in Ola.
CALENDAR August 1 Drew County Log A Load For Kids UA Monticello August 5 Tree Farm Committee 10 a.m. - AFA Office, Little Rock August 6 Tree Farm Inspector Training 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Cooperative Ext. Svc., Little Rock Contact: Jennifer at 501-374-2441 August 10 Program Committee 10 a.m. - Arlington Hotel Hot Springs August 11 Forest Practices Committee 9:30 a.m. - AFA Office August 13 Tree Farm Inspector Training 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. SW Research & Ext. Center, Hope Contact: Jennifer at 501-374-2441 August 27 Executive Committee 10 a.m. - AFA Office September 12 River Valley Log A Load For Kids Russellville September 7 AFA Office CLOSED in Observance of Labor Day October 6-8 70th AFA Annual Meeting Hot Springs www.arkforests.org/ event/70thannualmeeting
How’s your habitat? Causing a disturbance By Daniel Greenfield Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Private Lands Biologist
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ildlife habitat created by utilizing the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), administered through the Farm Service Agency, provides critical habitat to various wildlife species including deer, turkey, rabbit, quail, resident songbirds, migrating birds and waterfowl. CRP provides quality food and cover across the landscape that would otherwise be lacking. Land enrolled in the program is improved through mid-contract management activities, basically causing a disturbance to the cover. Mid-contract management activities are required under contract guidelines and must be included in the CRP habitat plan under most conservation practices. Landowners with contracts, without midcontract management activities included in the conservation plan, can request this costshared practice through an amendment to the plan through their county Farm Service Agency office. The timing of the disturbances are also important and will be outlined in the plan. Approved disturbance practices to contracts may include shallow disking, prescribed burning, spraying herbicides and inter-seeding legumes, depending on the specific CRP practice. Why are these practices important? The aforementioned practices cause a positive disturbance that would otherwise be absent. Quality habitat can be maintained throughout the life of the CRP contract when these practices are utilized properly. The disturbances are necessary to setback succession and control undesirable woody plant species and promote diversity in plant communities. Without disturbance, invasive species such as Bermuda grass, fescue and sweetgum can spread and take over an area. Periodic soil disturbance is necessary to promote short lived annual plant species that provide quality habitat. Partridge Pea, a common annual encouraged through disturbance, can produce an abundance of seeds eaten by songbirds quail, turkey and a number of mammals. Shallow Disking in CRP grass stands three-years-old or older can improve plant diversity and increase open ground beneficial to numerous game species such as quail, turkey, deer and other small
animals. Disking two to four inches deep and in strips no more than 75 feet wide is ideal. Only one third to half of the total field should be disked in a given year. It is important to leave an area twice the size of the area disked for cover. Fall disking can promote hard seeded plant species such as partridge pea and ragweed. Spring disking stimulates annual grasses. A properly disked field should consist of roughly 50 percent bare ground and 50 percent residual cover. Prescribed burning is a beneficial tool that can maximize habitat to its full potential in several ways. Excess litter that impedes the movement of small animals such as turkey poults and quail chicks can be removed by prescribed fire. Fire can also allow the germination of seed-bearing plants, creating more plant diversity and food production. Encroachment of undesirable woody species such as sweetgum can also be controlled. Burns must be completed according to specifications of Natural Resources Conservation Service. Spraying herbicides can also be used to remove unwanted vegetation. The herbicide applications will also setback plant succession to improve habitat diversity. The kind of unwanted plant species you are treating will determine the kind, rate and timing of herbicide application. It may be necessary to spray a large portion of the field or simply spot spray depending on the condition of the field. Inter-seeding legumes such as red and white clover or forbs such as Partridge Pea or Black–Eyed Susan will increase structural diversity in the cover and add a valuable food source for various wildlife species. CRP conservation practices available to landowners range from establishing bottomland hardwoods, wetlands, shallow water habitat, native warm season grass, pollinator habitat and other wildlife habitat. Mid-contract management activities are available depending on the CRP practice. Landowners receive a 50 percent cost-share to off-set any cost for the management activity. For more information on improving your CRP acres for wildlife and/or establishing and maintaining land for wildlife habitat, and programs to help, contact an AGFC Private Lands Biologist (PLB). To locate a nearby PLB look online at www.agfc.com/ habitat and click on the Private Lands map.
EAB confirmed in three additional Arkansas counties
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alhoun, Union, and Bradley Counties have been added to confirmed sites of emerald ash borer (EAB). Original counties with confirmed sites included Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Hot Spring, Nevada and Ouachita Counties. The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive insect that feeds on and eventually kills ash trees that are infested. An ash quarantine was established in September of 2014 by the Arkansas Plant Board. The 25-county area included in the quarantine originally encompassed Calhoun, Union, and Bradley Counties. The quarantine, to date, has not changed. Traps have been placed outside the quarantined counties to monitor possible spread outside those boundaries and will yield results later this summer. EAB expansion into additional counties has been confirmed by positive trap findings and/or Plant Board inspections based on homeowner sightings. An expansion of the quarantine is possible, and will directly depend upon EAB trap findings. Quarantined items continue to include firewood of all hardwood species, and the following ash items: nursery stock; green lumber with bark attached; other material living, dead, cut or fallen including logs, pulpwood, stumps, roots, branches, mulch and composted/un-composted chips (1 inch or greater). Firewood is the
of ash trees: Carolina, Green, Blue, White, and Pumpkin Ash. EAB has also been known to attack fringe trees. Find resources for EAB identification and details at the Arkansas State Plant Board, Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and Arkansas Forestry Commission sites, via the following links:
only quarantined item that relates to all hardwood; all other quarantined items are relative to ash, only. Quarantined counties include the nine counties with confirmed EAB infestation sites (Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Hot Spring, Nevada, Ouachita, and Union); remaining counties in the quarantine area are considered “buffer” counties where EAB has not yet been found. Quarantined items can move freely within the quarantined area. The restrictions only apply to the movement of items listed within the quarantined counties to areas outside of them. What should homeowners do? With EAB sighting/symptomatic tree, contact the Arkansas State Plant Board at 501-225-1598 or email eab@aspb.ar.gov. Homeowners should remember that EAB primarily attacks ash trees; Arkansas is home to five species
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Arkansas Ash Quarantine Map: plantboard.arkansas.gov/ PlantIndustry/Documents/EAB%20 Quarantine%20area.jpg
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Ash Quarantine and Regulations: plantboard.arkansas.gov/ PlantIndustry/Documents/EAB%20 Emergency%20Quarantine.pdf
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EAB Identification, Symptoms, Treatment, and Photos: www.uaex. edu/publications/pdf/fsa-7066.pdf
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EAB Discussion/Presentation: www. uaex.edu/interactive-lessons/EABLesson/story.html
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Ash Tree Identification: goo.gl/ J9Lgna
The mission of the Arkansas State Plant Board is to protect and serve the citizens of Arkansas and the agricultural and business communities by providing information and unbiased enforcement of laws and regulations thus ensuring quality products and services.
AFA members in the news... >> Scott Rowland recently became president of the Forest Landowners Association, based in Atlanta and made up of more than 5,000 members. The association advocates for the rights of private landowners in regard to open markets for forest products and supports them regardless of size, corporate structure, location, certification or tax classification. Rowland will serve as the FLA’s president until his term expires in June 2017. Rowland graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia in 1983. Rowland returned to a family farm for a few years, aiding the growth of products such as cotton, wheat, soybeans, chickens and cattle. In 1993, Rowland finished a second stint at college, graduating from Louisiana
Tech University in Ruston with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry. Rowland started work in 1990 with Neill Forestry Consultants in Magnolia, which was owned and operated by his fatherin-law, Bobby J. Neill, at the time. In 2000, Rowland and his wife, Traci, bought out NFC and became the owners, with Rowland taking on the role of president. Rowland was appointed to the board of directors for the Forest Landowners Association that same year, then to the group’s executive committee in 2007. >> Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Rick Rodenroth, of Fouke, who works at Domtar in Ashdown, to the Nutrient Water Quality Trading Advisory Panel. The appointment expires June 8, 2017. This panel may advise State regulatory
agencies regarding the desirability, design and operation of nutrient water quality trading programs. According to Act 335, which created the program: Water quality trading is a marketbased approach to achieving water quality goals that can provide greater efficiency and cost savings by allowing one source to meet its regulatory obligations by using pollutant reductions created by another source that has lower pollution control costs. Experience in other states has demonstrated that nutrient water quality trading programs...can result in quicker and more efficient achievement of water quality protection goals. The panel consists of nine members, one of which must represent forestry interests.
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