Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Farm and Home News

Information released by the Arkansas Forestry Commission indicates that 67,445 acres of timber were destroyed by the December ice storms on non-industrial privately-owned forest land.

The value of the timber destroyed is nearly $33 million. The cost of replacing this timber is almost $17 million. The total economic impact to Arkansas farmers and forest landowners is nearly $50 million.

This estimate does not include the timber lost on forest industry and national forest lands. Although it was not destroyed another 135,000 acres of privately owned timber will need some form of timber stand improvement to get it back into full production.

The impact here in Nevada county was the destruction of 3,500 acres of timber owned by 67 farmers and forest landowners. The economic impact of this loss includes $1,697,500 of value lost, plus $875,000 of replacement cost, for a total of $2,572,500.

Many more acres of Nevada County timberland were damaged, but not completely destroyed.

Landowners should be careful when attempting to sell damaged timber. Get a minimum of three bids and ask the loggers and timber buyers for references. Make sure that Arkansas Best Management Practices (BMPs) are followed during the harvesting operation. Loggers who have completed the ArkPro Logger Education course know how to follow BMPs.

If you need help in deciding on a course of management talk to a registered forester or contact the Arkansas Forestry Commission.

For information about timber prices call the Nevada County Extension Service office at 887-2818.