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Through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration project, Steve Jarvis helps people who help forests in Missouri. © TNC Staff

"We believe that the Pine-Oak Woodlands CFLR will help to sustain healthy forest systems and a healthy forest products economy that is vital to local communities in the Ozarks.”

Steve Jarvis recently took on the role of Executive Director at the Missouri Forest Products Association (MFPA).

The MFPA serves and promotes Missouri’s forest products industry, advocating for sustainable management and sound stewardship practices.

“The Missouri Forest Products Association is very concerned about the health of Missouri’s forests. The risk of insect infestations, disease, and wildfire danger is growing in many forest stands, including the Current River region that is the focus of the Mark Twain National Forest’s initiative,” Jarvis said.

The Pine-Oak Woodlands Collaborative Landscape Restoration Project will increase resiliency to these threats through thinning and controlled burn treatments, and will improve the overall health of the woodlands.

Jarvis supports the CFLR project because it shares a common goal with the MFPA: restored forests that will benefit a thriving forest products industry.

“Our association recently published a report entitled Improving Forest Health Sustains Rural Communities. We believe that the Pine-Oak Woodlands CFLR will help to sustain healthy forest systems and a healthy forest products economy that is vital to local communities in the Ozarks.”

The CFLR project will produce approximately $9.3 million in sawtimber and $1.7 million in biomass, and will save up to an estimated $18 million in wildfire management.