News

New resourceful website for land and timber land owners

This site was initiated through the efforts of Senator Blanche Lincoln, and involves:

• Economic Development Administration (EDA)
• Southwest Arkansas Planning and Development District (SWAPDD)
• Economic Development at University of Arkansas in Little Rock (UALR)
• Reynolds Forestry Consulting & Real Estate, PLLC (RFC)

The site's unofficial launch date was November 2003. Ongoing site corrections are underway and expected to continue for several months. Upon update completion, all excel based documents will dually be available for viewing in "excel" and "pdf" format.

Its purpose: to assist in the continued economic enhancement of our Arkansas timber industry through communication, understanding, net-working, attracting, challenging and stimulating landowners and professionals alike.

We must acknowledge our predecessors and current producers for Arkansas' present 4th ranking in national production of timber, which is her number one cash crop. The US collectively supplies the world with 15% of its annual lumber consumption. The southern pine belt is the world's largest sustained supplier of timber. Yet, if we stopped accepting imports, and relied solely on US production for all domestic lumber consumption, we would exhaust all collective US timber reserves.

There are 200 Million acres of timberland in the southeast 13 states. Over the next 40 years the nation is expected to loose 30 million acres to urban expansion, mostly along the coast line, giving an added incentive to enhance the production of timber in inland pine-belt states such as Arkansas.

We have approximately 33 million acres in Arkansas with over 18 million acres in timberland. The timber industry in South Arkansas is the number one employer. Industrial pine mills are our windows to the world for our sustained timber products. Each year we carefully and voluntarily through Sustained Forestry Initiatives (SFI) and Best Management Practices (BMP) harvest only our pine growth providing us the distinctive privilege of being sustained. Our 13 southeastern sister states also share in our honor, which collectively ranks us as the words largest sustained contiguous block of land. Poor stewardship is not an option.

The average pine plantation for non-industrial landowners in Arkansas annually produces below 4 tons per acre per year. Industry landowners increased their efficiency to over 7 tons per acre per year in response to world demand and growing needs. Every man, woman, and child regardless of origin, color, race, position, and creed deserve the same affordable opportunities that we experience; and that can only be accomplished through increased supply to meet growing domestic and world demands.

The average non-industrial landowner rotates a stand of timber every 40 to 50 years, while industrial landowners rotate crops every 25 - 35 years. The precedence has been set.

If we intend for Arkansas to continue competing nationally and internationally, we must collectively grow more for less. Import tariffs are only a temporary solution for the inevitable.

Cost to production is the long term answer. The irony, even though expenses increase with higher yields, cost to production decreases based on shorter rotations; thereby yielding higher returns. This also permits competitive stumpage prices, in turn which enables competitive lumber prices, which in turn ensures increased domestic and world market participation.

Again, by growing more, we can sale for less while increasing our return and competitiveness in the world market; while simultaneously enhancing our Arkansas economy, and we can do it, while tending the forest we love.

Proactive Forestry Resource Guide