August/September 2014

Join the state’s forestry community at #Arkforests2014*

AFA is pleased to return to Hot Springs for the 69th Annual Meeting, September 23-25, at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa. Following is the

agenda:

>> Tuesday, September 238:30 a.m. .......................................................................................Golf, Hot Springs Country Club11 a.m. ...................................... Skeet and Trap Shoot, Mountain Valley Sportsman’s AssociationNoon – 6 p.m. ............................................................................................................Registration Noon – 1 p.m. ....................................................................Women in Forestry Networking LunchNoon – 6 p.m. ..................................................................................................... Exhibitor Set-up1 – 4 p.m. ...................................................................................................Landowner Workshop

Extension Education - Dr. Tamara Walkingstick, Arkansas Forest Resources CenterConsulting Forester Services - John McAlpine, Kingwood Forestry Services Private Lands Biologists - David Long, Arkansas Game & Fish CommissionConsultant Services - Rebecca Montgomery, Ark. Board of Registration for ForestersCounty Forester Services - Larry Nance, Arkansas Forestry Commission

5 p.m. ................................................................................................................AFA Board Meeting6 p.m. ............................................................... Opening Reception, sponsored by Weyerhaeuser7:30 p.m. ..........................................................................................................Dinner on Your Own

>>> Wednesday, September 247 a.m. ................................................................................................................. Exhibitor Set-up7 a.m. ......................................................................................... UA Monticello Alumni Breakfast

7:30 a.m. .......................................... Registration and Continental Breakfast8:30 a.m. ............................................................................ Market Overview

Doyle Simons, Weyerhaeuser President and CEO9:30 a.m. ................................... Arkansas Forest Resources Center Overview

Dr. Phil Tappe, Director10 a.m. ................................................................................................ Break10:30 a.m. ..................Markets/Economic Development/Bio-based Products

Dr. Matthew Pelkki, Arkansas Forest Resources CenterDr. Josh Adams, Arkansas Forest Resources CenterDr. Julie Carrier, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

Noon ...................................................Luncheon, sponsored by Plum CreekDr. Mark Cochran, VP for Agriculture, UA Division of Agriculture

1 p.m. .................................................................Improving Forest Resiliency Dr. Andrew Nelson, Arkansas Forest Resources Center

1:45 p.m. ............................................................... Forests’ Contributions to a Sustainable SocietyDr. Hal Liechty, Arkansas Forest Resources CenterDr. Sayeed Mehmood, Arkansas Forest Resources Center

2:30 p.m. ............................................................................................................................ Break3 p.m. ................................................................................................................................Wildlife

Dr. Don White, Arkansas Forest Resources CenterDr. Doug Osborne, Arkansas Forest Resources Center

6 p.m. ..........................................................Barbecue and Bluegrass Dinner, sponsored by DelticHot Springs Farmers & Artisans Market

>>> Thursday, September 258 a.m. ................................................................................................................Awards Breakfast11 a.m. . .......................................................................... Door Prizes and Silent Auction, Adjourn

Weyerhaeuser President and CEO Doyle Simons

To reserve a room at the Arlington, call 1-800-643-1502. The reservation deadline to receive the “AFA Annual Meeting” rate of $101 is August 24.

The early-bird meeting registration fee is $145, through September 5. After that date, the fee will be $165. The fee includes the landowner workshop, general sessions, meals and breaks. Golf, skeet and trap shooting and the Women in Forestry Networking Lunch are available at an additional cost.

Look online at www.arkforests.org/annualmeeting.html for more information and to register.

In addition to the silent auction, participants can support the AFA Education Foundation through two card drawings—one at the opening reception for a Remington 243 Whitetail Pro Model 770 Rifle/Scope Youth Combo, sponsored by the Arkansas Chapter of the Association of Consulting Foresters, and one at the barbecue for a Browning A-Bolt 3 Composite Stalker, sponsored by International Paper. Only two decks of cards will be sold for each drawing.

“We are excited to partner with the Arkansas Forest Resources Center to provide much of this year’s program,” said AFA Executive Vice President Max Braswell. “Hearing about their innovative research and practical applications will benefit all segments of the forestry community.”

Thank you to the 40 sponsors and 18 exhibitors who have signed up to support #Arkforests2014*. If you would like to be a sponsor or exhibitor, contact Jennifer Lambert Johnson at jjohnson@arkforests.org or (501) 374-2441.

*Note: #Arkforests2014 is a twitter hashtag. To build excitement, interest and exposure, please use this designation in tweets and other social media posts about the annual meeting.

CALENDAR

September 3Program Committee10 a.m. - Hot Springs

September 9

Forest Practices Committee9:30 a.m. - AFA Office, Little Rock

September 13River Valley Log A Load For Kids

L.V. Williamson Boys and Girls ClubRussellville

September 23-2569th AFA Annual Meeting

Arlington Resort Hotel and SpaHot Springs

September 20Bradley County Log A Load For Kids

5K RaceWarren

September 27Bradley County Log A Load For Kids

Hermitage

Forest Management TourOctober 22, 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

UA Livestock & Forestry Research StationBatesville

batesvillestation.uark.edu/batesville.fieldday2014.pdf

Contact: Kyle Cunningham, (501) 671-2145 or kcunningham@uaex.edu

The UA Livestock and Forestry Research Station and Arkansas Forest Resources Center have been working to develop innovative forest management research. This workshop includes a field tour of upland hardwood and pine research and demonstration areas. Attendees will receive a first-hand view of hardwood and pine management practices for timber and wildlife, including insects and diseases, prescribed fire, herbicide applications, timber markets and harvesting, and research results. The goal is for landowners to leave with a sense of how to implement practices on their own properties.

Forest health, burning, pine on Batesville agenda

The 2014 Teacher Conservation Tour (TCT) was held June 23-27 in Russellville, with

24 educators participating. These formal and nonformal educators represented 14 different school districts and organizations from across the state. They represented all grade levels from pre-K through high school.

“These educators gained valuable knowledge about how important our forestlands and timber industries are to the state of Arkansas,” said Rob Beadel, director of forestry education. Presentations, hands-on programs, site visits, and mill tours were provided by a variety of individuals representing 15 state and federal government agencies, academia, timber industries, nonprofit organizations and other entities.

Following are some of the responses received on the TCT evaluation forms:

• This has been, by far, the best workshop I have ever attended in my 28 years of teaching!

• WOW! What a great experience!

I learned so much valuable information, gained so many ideas for the next school year. Thank you for putting on this workshop and supplying resources to us. I will definitely recommend this workshop and possibly return. if able! Thank you!

• I have participated in several workshops, etc and this was the best. I didn’t realize how important the forestry industry is to Arkansas’s economy. I want to know more!

• So FUN! Such an amazing workshop!• I loved it!!!

Many thanks to the following TCT sponsors for their support: AgHeritage Farm Credit Services, Bibler Bros. Lumber, CPS-Timberland, Deltic, Evergreen Packaging, Georgia-Pacific, Green Bay Packaging, International Paper, Kingwood Forestry Services, L.D. Long, Maxwell Hardwoods, Plum Creek, Potlatch, The Price Companies, RMS Timberlands, Weyerhaeuser, Arkansas Pulpwood, West Fraser Timber, Landowner Legacy Communications and Curtner Lumber Company.

TCT participants try their hand at using a crosscut saw during a visit to the U.S. Forest Service office in Hector.

The group visited the Ozark National Forest and learned about timber sale management, Best Management Practices, wildland firefighting and fire restoration.

The 2014 Teacher Conservation Tour was held June 23-27 in Russellville, with 24 educators participating. These formal and nonformal educators represented 14 different school districts and organizations from across the state.

TCT shares our story with educators

News briefs>> During the Arkansas Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Annual Banquet last month in Eureka Springs, AFA Executive Vice President Max Braswell was installed as a new member of the organization’s board of directors. ASAE’s membership includes more than 160 association executive members representing more than 145 of Arkansas’s largest state and regional associations and organizations.

>> Gov. Mike Beebe reappointed John Wainscott, with Weyerhaeuser, to a five-year term on the Arkansas State Board of Registration for Foresters. He is the industry representative on the Board.

>> After nearly 40 years of federal service, Reggie Blackwell has been selected as Forest Supervisor of the Ozark‐St. Francis National Forests. He recently relocated from Fort Worth, Texas, to Russellville, where he served the past 9 years as the national grazing lands specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a sister USDA agency.

Fire protection insurance availableAFA is now able to offer a

new membership benefit through our partnership with Outdoor Underwriters, Inc. Members can now purchase fire protection insurance for their timber stands and/or young plantations.

There are five coverage options available with limits up to $100,000 and a low starting premium of $20. There is a simple application process requiring your name, address, stand location and

timber type. Higher limits and additional perils can be purchased on an individual basis.

Other policies available for AFA members through Outdoor Underwriters include hunt club and landowner liability. For more information please contact Outdoor Underwriters, Inc. at 1-866-961-4101 or look

online at www.afa.outdoorund.com for an application.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) is offering free prescribed

fire workshops for forest landowners throughout the state. These workshops include dinner, sponsored by the AFA Education Foundation. Landowners must register to attend. Class size is limited to the first 35 registering.

August 26, 6 - 9 p.m.Jonesboro

Call 870-972-5438 orjonesboroburnclass.eventbrite.com

HarrisonCall 870-741-8600 ext. 114 or

harrisonburnclass.eventbrite.com

August 28, 6 - 9 p.m.Fayetteville

Call 479-418-9973 or fayettevilleburnclass.eventbrite.com

BrinkleyCall 877-734-4581 or brinkleyburnclass.

eventbrite.com

Fire has been a dominant force in nature for eons, shaping plant and animal communities all over the world. In Arkansas, native upland plant communities are adapted to periodic fire after centuries of fires caused by Native Americans and lightning strikes. Early explorers noted a very different Arkansas than today. The area was dominated by vast fire-dependent prairies and open canopy forests that were full of wildlife. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft explored the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks in 1818 and described the area as “a level woodless barren covered with wild grass.” One of

Prescribed fire workshops tailored for private landowners

the biggest challenges for Schoolcraft was finding enough firewood to stay warm, a testament to the low intensity fires that once covered Arkansas each year. Prairie grasses, wildflowers, shortleaf pine and upland oaks not only tolerate fire, but depend on it for survival. Periodic fires control unwelcome plant species like cedar, maple and sweetgum. The fires recycle nutrients, and reduce fuels to prevent severe, catastrophic wildfires. Northern bobwhites have become the flagship species for a decline in fire-dependent habitat, but numerous fire-dependent plant and animal species have also declined. In fact, 42 percent of the imperiled plant and animal species in Arkansas are adapted to fire, and a lack of fire is a major cause of their decline. Fire also is the most effective and most economical land management tool, available in upland forests and fields, to improve conditions for commercial timber and wildlife such as white-tailed deer, wild turkey, northern bobwhites and black bear. Today, land managers use prescribed fire to restore and manage fields and upland forests to benefit game and nongame species. Prescribed fire is used by trained personnel and is meticulously planned and prepared for to complete specific

habitat objectives and ensure safety for participants, the public and property. This technique is used widely by resource professionals in the state, and its use by private landowners is growing.

One of the biggest hurdles preventing landowners from using prescribed fire is a lack of knowledge in its safe use. This class educates landowners on the benefits of prescribed fire, helps them become educated consumers of professional burn vendors, and teaches them how to use the tool themselves, if they are comfortable with it, on small tracts on their own property. Topics covered include wildlife management and fire, fire weather, Arkansas fire law, equipment, ignition techniques and pre-burn planning. A live burn demonstration also will be offered only to class participants at a later date. Details will be announced at the classes.

Emerald ash borer confirmed in six Arkansas countiesArkansas State Plant Board officials

have confirmed that the emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive beetle that attacks and kills ash trees, has been found in Hot Spring, Clark, Nevada, Dallas, Ouachita and Columbia counties.

The Plant Board is working on details related to a quarantine and AFA will keep members up to date on any developments. To assist in the response to the impact of this invasive pest, AFA is coordinating a forestry task group that will include landowners, industry, loggers, natural resource agencies and others in the forestry community. Since 2009, the Arkansas State Plant Board and the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA APHIS PPQ), through a cooperative program, has been conducting an emerald ash borer survey. The survey has been ongoing with the agency surveying approximately one-half of the state and the Arkansas State Plant Board surveying the remaining counties. The survey consists

of placing traps and inspecting ash trees for signs of EAB infestations. The insect specimens from the Hot Spring and Clark county traps were sent to scientists at USDA APHIS PPQ, who have confirmed the insect’s identity. EAB is now present in 24 states and two Canadian provinces. It was first discovered in Michigan in 2002 and has since killed tens of millions of trees. The adult emerald ash borer is a metallic green insect about one-half inch long and one-eighth inch wide making it hard to detect in the wild. The female beetles lay eggs on the bark of ash trees. The eggs hatch and the larvae bore

into the bark to the fluid-conducting vessels underneath. The larvae feed and develop, cutting off the flow of nutrients and, eventually killing the tree. EAB attacks and kills North American species of true ash, and tree death occurs three to five years following initial infestation. EAB is native to Asia. Signs of EAB include: canopy dieback beginning at the top of the tree and progressing through the year until the tree is bare; sprouts growing from the

roots and trunk; split bark with an S-shape gallery; D-shaped exit holes; and more woodpecker activity, creating large holes as they extract the larvae. State and USDA APHIS PPQ personnel are surveying trees in the areas surrounding the initial finds to determine the extent of the EAB infestation. To report signs of the beetle to the Arkansas State Plant Board, call 501-225-1598.

For more information about Emerald Ash Borer, visit www.emeraldashborer.info or www.arinvasives.org.