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Southern Forests Conservation Project
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The Nature Conservancy and International Paper have undertaken a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect ecologically important forests, rivers and streams in 10 southern states. The Nature Conservancy will acquire more than 218,000 acres in the largest private land conservation project in the history of the southern United States. Partners include state governments, federal agencies, the Department of Defense and timber investment entities.
Total Protected Area in Arkansas: 8,123 acres
- blackland prairies: 228 acres
- falcon bottoms: 143 acres
- miller county sandhills: 108 acres
- oak ridge ravines: 1,087 acres
- palmetto flats: 1,848 acres
- poison springs: 4,778 acres
Representative Species
- Neotropical songbirds
- Bald cypress
- Black bear
- Freshwater mussels
- Arkansas, Durand's and Bluejack oaks
Project Partners
- The Nature Conservancy
- International Paper
Arkansas Forests – Miller County Sandhills
Miller County Sandhills site is the highest quality example of the western sandhill woodland and sand barrens community known in Arkansas. Twenty-two rare plant species are recorded from this area, four of these 22 are found nowhere else in Arkansas. The rare plant community is of high significance. This site is the only western sandhill not under cultivation or in pine plantation and the project conserves one system, five plant communities and two plant ecoregional targets.
Poison Springs
More than 400 plant species have been identified in the sandhills of Ouachita and Nevada counties (Poison Springs Site – 181,278 acres) accounting for over 13 percent of the entire flora of Arkansas in a very small part of the state. The sandhill region harbors a distinctive group of plant communities (4 - G2, 2 - G3) supporting 20 sandhill endemic plants (3 - G3). Many of these are disjunct populations previously thought to be endemic to sites in Texas (Roberts 1978). Nine Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain (UWGCP) ecoregional conservation targets are represented by 36 viable occurrences. This includes one system target, six plant community associations and three plants. The site includes ownership by The Conservancy, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC), Arkansas Forestry Commission (AFC), and Arkansas State Parks (ASP). The Conservancy and ANHC tracts have been cooperatively managed since 1998.
Blackland Prairies
This site (aprox. 35,000 acres) contains the largest remnant of the blackland ecosystem under conservation management in the world (aprox. 6,500 acres). The 4,885-acre Grandview Blackland Prairie Wildlife Management Area represents the largest and most significant example of blackland prairie and woodland in Arkansas and the largest contiguous tract in public ownership across the United States. Eight UWGCP ecoregional conservation targets are represented by 25 viable occurrences, which include one system, 22 plant associations, and one plant–the world’s largest population of eared false foxglove (Tomanthera auriculata). The Conservancy, ANHC, and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) all have ownership within the site and have managed it cooperatively since 1998.
Nacatoch Ravines Conservation Area
This blackland ecosystem site represents an ecological grandient from uplands to lowlands and between pine dominated sands and hardwood dominated calcareous slopes and ravines. The site contains viable occurrences of two ecosystem types, 14 plant community targets (two are globally endemic), and three plant targets. The Conservancy and ANHC own tracts at the site and have been cooperatively managing since 1995. It is one of the largest intact examples of dry, dry-mesic, and mesic upland forest in Arkansas portion of the UWGCP. The acquisition would conserve five viable occurrences of plant targets, seven plant community targets, and allow for ecosystem restoration on the uplands and more efficient management of the site as a whole.
Palmetto Flats Conservation Area
Palmetto Flats Conservation Area is a large wetland ecosystem situated on the upper terraces of the Red River Alluvial Plain. This low gradient site retains surface water through late spring and early summer. Palmetto Flats comprises a diverse association of wetland plant communities that varies with subtle changes in topography. The wetter flats are dominated by a low density overcup oak canopy with a dense sedge dominated herbaceous layer. These flats have a wet savanna appearance studded with Mima mounds, small circular mounds that rise 4’ to 5’ above flats, that are dominated by post oak with occasional white and Durand’s oak. Several heronries with great white egrets and great blue herons breeding in the tree tops are located along one of the small creeks. The site represents the only conservation site on the Red River floodplain maintaining these ecosystem types.
Bayou Dorcheat Conservation Area
Acquisition of the Falcon Bottoms/IP tract will protect one half mile of a small stream and its bottomland which flow into the Bayou Dorcheat main stem adjacent to other protected areas. The tract adds to the protection of eight viable system-level targets and three pecies-level targets. The acquisition would leave five percent of the site in conservation.
For More Information
The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas
Working with partners, local communities, and people like you, The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 262,000 acres of critical natural habitat in Arkansas.
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