March 2016
Forestry community responds to misinformation
T
he Arkansas Forestry Association recently joined the Arkansas Forestry Commission and the School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello to author a Guest Editorial in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The column touted the benefits of sustainable forest management and its contribution to ensuring that we have healthy forests that benefit all Arkansans today, and in the future. The article also corrected numerous errors that were included in a Guest Editorial printed a few days before the forestry response. In addition to the forestry response, the newspaper published several well-informed Letters to the Editor, including submissions from Aubra Anthony, chair of the Arkansas Agriculture Board and member of the AFA Executive Committee, and Scott Rowland of Neill Forestry Services and president of the Forest Landowners Association. AFA and its partners don’t view our article as a one-time effort. The days of allowing misinformation to be accepted as fact are over. We must respond, and better yet, we must be proactive in telling our story. It’s a wonderful, science-based, win-win message that demonstrates that sustainable forestry is part of the solution, not part of the problem for many of the environmental and economic challenges we face today. In case you missed it, here is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Guest Editorial written by Max Braswell, AFA Executive Vice President, Joe Fox, Arkansas State Forester, and Dr. Phil Tappe, Dean, School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Director, Arkansas Forest Resources Center, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Arkansas forests are growing 10.4 million tons of pine and 5.3 million tons of hardwood more than are being harvested annually. Families and individuals own more than 60% of Arkansas’s forests. About 19% are publicly owned. Forest Industry owns less than 20% of Arkansas’s forests.
Arkansas’ Healthy Forests Forests are “Win/Win” “The handling of our forests as a continuous, renewable resource means permanent employment and stability to our country life.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt Arkansas’ Forests are healthy and productive. They provide clean air and water, excellent wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, and jobs. Forests are not “either/or” places. Rather, they are “both/and” places. Forest landowners can manage for all these objectives together. All Arkansans win because our forests are healthy today. Here are a few facts from the latest (2014) Arkansas Forest Facts published by the US Forest Service and the Arkansas Forestry Commission from data compiled from permanent forest sample plots over the past sixty-plus years. These plots are measured once every five years, 20% each year. In 1978 there were 17.8 million acres of forest containing 600 million tons of trees in Arkansas. Today, there are 19.0 million acres containing 950 million tons of trees. That’s an increase of over 16 tons per acre or almost 50%.
Multiple owners in multiple landscapes with varied objectives for their forests can all have multiple benefits. In Arkansas, we are blessed with excellent hunting opportunities. Why? Our forests are healthy. In Arkansas, we are blessed with clean air and water much because our forests are healthy. In Arkansas, we are blessed with magnificent scenery largely because our forests are varied and healthy. In Arkansas, we are blessed with more than 26,000 jobs directly due to healthy forests. A recent writer to the Arkansas DemocratGazette claimed that two new pellet mills and a possible new pulp mill would clear over 800,000 acres of forest per year and pollute our air and water. That writer has inaccurate numbers and leaves out many facts. Forestland owners in Arkansas are doing an excellent job of replanting forests as they are cut (see the first fact). All timber harvests are not clearcuts, most are thinnings where half or more of the trees per acre are left to grow. The size of trees that are used by pellet and pulp mills are more likely to be harvested in thinning operations. The writer’s reference to “800,000 acres of clearcuts” is grossly overstated. The correct number should be 200,000 acres of thinning. That number represents only 1% of our forests and, more importantly, it represents only 38% of the net annual growth after current harvests.
See more on next page
Chamberlin Healthy forests cont’d We NEED these mills (all types of mills – pulp and paper, lumber, and pellet mills) to inducted into Ag Fact: keep our forests in healthy growing condition. If we don’t match the growth of the forest with removals, eventually we will have stagnant, dense forests that will be plagued by Hall of Fame insects, disease, and wildfire. A tragic example of this problem lies in western states where
H
enry “Hank”
Chamberlin was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame on March 4, 2016. The late Chamberlin is known as the “Father of Forestry Education” in Arkansas, as he devoted his life to the timber and forestry industry. Chamberlin graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BS in forestry and went on to Yale University and received his Master’s of Forestry in 1940. Chamberlin began working at Louisiana State University in 1940, where he later became the head of the forestry program. In 1945, Chamberlin started the forestry department at the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) and retired from UAM in 1980. Dr. Philip Tappe, Dean of School of Forestry and Natural Resources, UAM and Dir. of the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, accepted the award on behalf of the Chamberlin family.
AFA Calendar
March 30 Forest Protection Committee 10 a.m. AFA Office, Little Rock March 31 Forest Practices Committee 9:30 a.m. AFA Office, Little Rock April 12 Feral Hog Control Workshop Fordyce, AR April 28 Forestry Field Day Hope, AR May 11 Tree Farm Committee 10 a.m. AFA Office, Little Rock
May 12-13 Spring Board Meeting Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Morrilton, AR
mountain pine beetle and expensive, large-scale wildfires have come to be the norm. Last year (2015) was a record year in recent forest history as 10 million acres of forests burned, mostly in the west. In the early 2000’s, the red oak borer, a native insect, wiped out 1 million acres of overly dense oak forests in Arkansas. This will continue if we don’t balance growth and removals from our forest. Fact: Forest industry provides jobs that average over $53,000 per employee per year usually in rural counties, sometimes thought to be “poor”. Fact: Environmentalists, university foresters, state and federal agency foresters, professional loggers, and industrial foresters have worked together for more than two decades to train landowners and professionals (including 1,434 loggers last year). The training includes how to apply voluntary forestry Best Management Practices for water quality protection, how to conduct prescribed fire, how to manage the forest for deer, turkey, quail, or ducks, and many other tools that are necessary to manage the forest for the long term….for our grandchildren. The writer got one thing right. Protecting the quality of life of Arkansans is non-negotiable. That’s why we teach and train landowners, professionals, and our children the science and practice of good forest management! Good forest management is being practiced by the forest landowners, loggers and foresters of Arkansas. Good forest management respects and conserves our water and air and ecosystems and wildlife while it uses many tools to manage our forests. Good forest management plans decades in advance to reach multiple landowner objectives. Good forest management is based on the best science available. Good forest management has many partners. Arkansas has good forest management in place. Arkansas has healthy forests. We are blessed. The future is bright!
Shareholders Approve Plum CreekWeyerhaeuser Merger
O
n February 16, 2016, shareholders of both Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (PCL) and Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) voted in favor of the merging of the two companies. This merger will combine two industry leaders to create a $23 billion timber REIT with more than 13 million acres of the most productive and diverse timberland in the U.S. “Weyerhaeuser operates 38 low-cost wood products manufacturing facilities across the country. This includes more than 1.2 million acres in Arkansas. We will continue to make wood products at our Emerson and Dierks mills as well as produce seedlings at our nursery in Magnolia,” Weyerhaeuser Public Affairs Manager, Nancy Thompson said. The Plum Creek and Weyerhaeuser merger is an all-stock transaction followed by a $2.5 billion post-closing share repurchase. Plum Creek shareholders will receive 1.6 shares of Weyerhaeuser for each share of Plum Creek that they currently own. Rick Holley, former CEO of Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. will take on the role as non-executive chairman and Doyle Simons will continue to lead Weyerhaeuser as the President and CEO. Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. Weyerhaeuser manages these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards. Weyerhaeuser is also one of the largest manufacturers of wood and cellulose fibers products. Weyerhaeuser is a real estate investment trust. In 2015, Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek generated approximately $8.5 billion in net sales and employed nearly 14 thousand people who serve customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is listed on the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index. Weyerhaeuser common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WY.
Neely joins AFA team as Communications Director
R
ebecca Neely, a native of Florence, Mississippi, is the new Arkansas Forestry Association (AFA) Communications Director. She began her work with AFA on March 1, after spending the last year as the Communications Director for the Arkansas Environmental Federation in Little Rock. “I am thrilled to welcome Rebecca to the AFA team and know that our members will enjoy working with her,” said Max Braswell, executive vice president. “Her character, enthusiasm and skills will be a great fit for the association, and she will be an integral part of a great staff working to promote the timber and forest products industry in Arkansas.” Neely, who earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations from Harding University in 2014, is responsible for all of the association’s member communication including print and online publications, website content, social media and is the coordinator for the “Log A Load for Kids” program, which raises funds for Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Externally, she will coordinate AFA’s media relations and develop marketing strategies to position AFA as “The Voice of Forestry”.
2nd annual Tree Farmer Conference scheduled The second annual Tree Farmer Conference is scheduled for June 9, 2016 in Gum Springs, AR. Attendees will have the opportunity to receive a Tree Farm update, hear a logger’s perspective on harvesting considerations, learn about herbicide usage and more. Participants in the conference will take part in a tour of the Ross Foundation Tree Farm. This tour will provide participants with various herbicide application methods and more. Registration is online at http://www.arkforests.org/ event/2016tfconference
Some of Rebecca’s favorite things include exploring Arkansas, spending time with family and friends, watching Grey’s Anatomy and Quantico and completing crossword and jigsaw puzzles.
Get to know your AFA team Max Braswell
Rob Beadel
Max is responsible for the overall administration and management of AFA. He serves as the primary government affairs contact and chief media spokesperson.
Rob coordinates programs for students, educators, landowners and others throughout the state and serves as the state coordinator for Project Learning Tree. These outreach efforts are coordinated through the AFA Education Foundation.
Executive Vice President
Some of Max’s favorite things include all things Razorback, spending time with family, listing to music, reading, working in the yard, sitting on the beach in the summer and deer hunting in the fall and winter.
Jennifer Lambert Johnson
Director of Business Administration Jennifer oversees the day-to-day office management at AFA and handles the association’s fiscal responsibilities. She coordinates the Arkansas Tree Farm Program and the AFA Annual Meeting. Some of Jennifer’s favorite things include reading, spending time with family, crocheting, relaxing in the sunshine, being a piece of furniture to her favorite feline, and attempting to perfect the world’s most delicious chocolate chip cookie.
Director of Forestry Education
Some of Rob’s favorite things include gardening and landscaping, arts and crafts, traveling to new places, reading, listening to live music, watching baseball, camping, fishing and deer hunting.
The 2016 AFA Spring Board of Directors Meeting will take place at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute in Morrilton, May 12-13. Register for the meeting at http://www.arkforests.org/ event/boardmeeting. Registration deadline is April 29. This year’s hotel accommodations are available at Winthrop Rockefeller Institute with a room rate of $89 per night for a single or double occupancy. Call 501-727-5435 or 866-972-7778 and reference Group # 65389 to receive the AFA special discounted rate. The room reservation deadline is April 29.