Push on to restore shortleaf pine in forests in state

Shortleaf pine numbers are shrinking in the southeastern United States, but Arkansas and other states are working to restore the durable and long-living trees in the region's forests.

Arkansas has two programs -- the Western Arkansas Woodland Restoration project and the Shortleaf Pine Initiative's new restoration plan -- that operate in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service to revive the shortleaf pine's numbers.

The Western Arkansas Woodland Restoration project, started in 2014, covers 29 counties in western and northwestern Arkansas. It provides funding and technical assistance on public lands and for private landowners who choose to participate in replenishing forests, in general. Such efforts can include restoring the numbers of shortleaf pine trees or oak trees in a given area.

Since the program started, federal agencies have entered into 286 contracts with landowners, and have spent $3.6 million in the Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis national forests and $5.7 million on 41,200 acres of private landowners.

The Shortleaf Pine Restoration Plan, published by the initiative in May, calls for an effort to restore the trees across the Southeast -- which runs from Long Island, N.Y., to Texas -- and includes the same 29 counties in Arkansas and more, Arkansas State Forester Joe Fox said.

Exact figures on how much money has been spent on shortleaf pine restoration were unavailable. The Western Arkansas Woodland Restoration project is not specific to the shortleaf pine.

The goal is to see the shortleaf pine tree thrive, and accomplishing that will mean initially thinning out some forested areas. A forest that is too dense is not healthy, said George Rheinhardt, state forester for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Prescribed burns in Arkansas and the rest of the Southeast region allow in more sunlight, which gives shortleaf pines a better opportunity to grow.

Region-wide efforts in the Shortleaf Pine Initiative plan include researching, developing more restoration plans, and evaluating strategies and the results of those efforts. In the Interior Highlands and West Gulf Coastal Plain regions, which include Arkansas, the Shortleaf Pine Initiative plan includes restoring 450,000 acres in the state and near the Mississippi River.

This summer, Fox reported on the state's efforts to restore the tree during the Southern Group of State Foresters' annual meeting in Mobile, Ala.

Arkansas has the most shortleaf pines in the Southeast region, Fox said, which is why its restoration efforts have become a model for other states.

Arkansas has seen its number of shortleaf pine acres drop from about 2.8 million in 1980 to about 2 million in 2012, but it still has more than twice as many shortleaf pine acres as any other state, according to the Shortleaf Pine Restoration Plan. Some states have hardly any shortleaf pines left.

"We're lucky we've still got it," Rheinhardt said of the shortleaf pine species.

The shortleaf pine has been coveted as lumber. Peak lumber production from the shortleaf pine was in about 1900 when the Southeast had 70 million to 80 million acres of the trees, Fox said. Now that acreage is about 6 million.

A report from the Shortleaf Pine Initiative -- formed in 2013 to address threats to the tree species -- said southern pine beetle outbreaks and littleleaf disease also have contributed to the decline of the shortleaf pine across the Southeast.

Loblolly pines have taken the place of shortleaf pines for lumber purposes because they grow faster and are more economical, Fox said.

Still, there are plenty of benefits to restoring the shortleaf pine numbers.

The Shortleaf Pine Initiative report noted that in addition to providing lumber, shortleaf pine seeds are a food source for small mammals and birds, such as northern bobwhite quail. The trees also are used by woodpeckers for nests and as roosts for bats.

Shortleaf pine trees have shorter needles than loblolly pines, which allow more light to hit the ground. That benefits other wildlife, Rheinhardt said, which is a selling point with private landowners because most don't harvest their trees for lumber.

The Ozark-St. Francis National Forest consists of about one-third shortleaf pine trees and about two-thirds mixed hardwoods.

In 2015, forest workers planted 500 acres of shortleaf pine trees at a cost of about $125 per acre, or $62,500.

As part of forest restoration efforts, in areas where there are too many shortleaf pine trees, forest workers use fire or herbicides, at a cost of $150 to $200 per acre, to thin them.

The shortleaf pine is especially adaptable to the state's weather changes, Fox said. The tree is particularly able to thrive in a changing climate, the Shortleaf Pine Initiative report said.

Without shortleaf pine conservation efforts, Fox said, the forests would grow denser, and eventually nature would restore the shortleaf pine by means of natural fires. Those fires, he said, would not be controlled burns like the ones workers use in restoration efforts.

"If we do nothing, then we will eventually," Fox said. "It wouldn't happen tomorrow, maybe not even next year -- [but eventually] we would start having the big, huge fires as we see in the West," he said. "So it's a forest health problem."

Metro on 08/21/2016

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