Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Tim's Tips

FOREST MANAGEMENT

OPPORTUNITIES

Cooler late-summer weather and the beginning of squirrel season will inspire thousands, actually hundreds of thousands, of Arkansans to start a season of leisure time in the woods. Many of these visitors to the woods are the owners or will soon own land.

The walking, sitting and listening activities provides an opportunity to think about our abundance of quality forests. What can be done to enhance our forests, to guarantee that generations to come will be as privileged as we are today?

Arkansas has nearly 17 million acres of commercial forest land that is capable of producing raw forest products, such as sawlogs, poles and pulpwood. Most of this acreage currently produces many other less measurable amenities, such as many species of wildlife, both game and non-game; opportunities for hiking, camping and picnics; improved water quality through the forests, unique hydrology, oxygen regeneration and tranquility for travelers and hikers.

The vast forest is owned by three major ownership types. Fifty-seven percent is owned by non-industrial private (folks like you, farmers and me); 25 percent is owned by forest industry; and 18 percent is owned by the public. The two national forests account for about two million acres.

Much of Arkansas forest land could produce more of the above mentioned benefits if only the owners would plan to practice sound forest management techniques that would move their forestland from a less productive state to greater productivity.

Documented research clearly shows that managed forest lands return at least twice the dollars than do unmanaged forests, while providing increased wildlife populations, recreational opportunities and incomes.

One of the most disturbing phone calls that I receive is from someone who has sold their timber without any idea of what they would have left for residual growing stock or how to regenerate the tract where overcutting had occurred. General forest management advice is as close as picking up the telephone and dialing the county agent at the local University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension office or a forester at the Arkansas Forestry Commission.

A forestland owner would be in the best hands by contracting a consulting forester prior to harvesting their timber, letting the consulting forester explore what the owner expects in both short and especially long term goals for the timberland.

The consulting forester can then tailor a specific harvesting plan to benefit the owner with a better return on timber that is marketed, not just sold or dumped, and assure that the harvest goes as planned, for financial, residual stand, aesthetic and wildlife impact points of view.

Most timber companies also have landowner assistance programs that provide services to forest landowners in their zone of operation. These programs vary from less intensive advisory to contractual.

The worst mistake that most non-industrial private forest landowners make is to do nothing. They are often unprepared when they receive an offer to buy their timber and may make a hasty decision that could result in a less productive forest for a long time.

Fortunately, the forest is renewable, but, although no management will be compensated for over a period of time, that period will be much longer and both aesthetic and monetary benefits will be reduced for a longer period of time.

The bottom line is that planning really pays in forestry, because mistakes are long lasting and expensive.

OVERSEEDING PASTURES

There are about eight main clovers that Arkansas farmers use to either overseed their bermudagrass and fescue pastures or to plant a pure stand for winter forage production.

Clovers serve a real purpose, because they are legumes and they're highly nutritious. They may not yield the tonnage that some of the grasses would yield, but the quality is certainly at the top of the list. And so it pays at this time of the year at planting time - September - to think about the clovers and decide which ones are the best suited to the use that you have in mind making of them.

First of all, one of the key things about any clover is to inoculate the seed before it is planted. And that's sometimes done by the person who sells you the seed. Some clover seed is preinoculated and also coated with a lime coat. However, be sure to check the inoculant date, because if the seed is old and has been carried over and the inoculant was done several months ago, you may want to reinoculate it anyway. So be sure to check the tag on the bag and make sure that the inoculation has been done recently.

If the seed is not coated, then you will have to inoculate it yourself before it goes into the ground. And what we're talking about here is coating the seed with some kind of a sticker and then applying a little powdery black inoculum onto the seed.

And when that is done properly, then when the seed is put into the ground, the clover seed will start to germinate and become infected with that inoculation and then it will fix its own nitrogen. You don't have to buy the nitrogen out of the bag.

It is a real plus to have clovers in some of the pastures and making sure that they are properly inoculated is an important part of that.

Now, then, which clover to produce? Probably the clover that is most at home in Arkansas conditions is white clover and some people like to mix a little red clover with that.

The mixture is a fine combination, because the white clover will be producing early in the year and the red clover will come on and produce later into the summer months. Mix about six pounds of red clover with about a pound or two of white clover. This is a good mixture to overseed the pastures that you may have here.

There is another key point in making sure that they become established properly: that is to get rid of the old overstory of the grass before the seed ever goes into the ground. Make sure the ground is fertile. Take a soil test and follow whatever that recommendation is before you put a seed into the ground.