Calion lumber company donation creates preserve along the Ouachita River

Spring 2008

Thanks to a donation of a 2,900-acre conservation easement from Calion Lumber Company to The Nature Conservancy, there is now a new nature preserve on the lower Ouachita River in Arkansas. The easement, located north of Camden in Ouachita County, includes six miles along both sides of the river and will be known as the Ouachita River Nature Preserve.

Mature bottomland hardwood trees at the Ouachita River Nature Preserve (c) TNC

Roger Mangham, director of conservation programs for the Conservancy, said the area is best described as an old bottomland hardwood forest with embedded cypress-tupelo sloughs.

“This forest is absolutely beautiful,” Mangham said. “There are some enormous trees there, some over six feet in diameter. This is a place that provides habitat for deer, turkey, black bear and many other animals. And its location on the Ouachita River will help maintain water quality for endangered mussels and fish, like the Alabama shad (Alosa alabamae), and for people, too.”

Before the creation of the preserve, the only major conservation area on the lower Ouachita in Arkansas was the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge near the Louisiana border.

“I bought this land for Calion in 1958,” said Charlie Thomas, vice president of Calion Lumber, a business his family owns. “When I purchased the land, I knew I was purchasing one of the Natural State’s finest treasures. I wanted to ensure the land remains natural and well managed, which is why we decided to donate an easement to The Nature Conservancy.”

“Charlie and Calion Lumber have been such good stewards of this land,” said Scott Simon, the director of the Conservancy in Arkansas. “We are honored they chose The Nature Conservancy to be a partner on their property.”  

The Conservancy, working with Calion Lumber Company, will develop a conservation forestry management plan that will focus on the sustainable harvest of timber on 1,900 acres of the property. The remaining 1,000 acres – according to Thomas’ goals – will not be harvested.

The land, which remains the property of Calion Lumber, is still being used by the company and the family and will not be open for public use.

A conservation easement is a voluntary restriction placed on a piece of property by the landowner to conserve its habitat or open space values. While it is a legally binding agreement that limits certain types of uses or prevents development from taking place now and in the future, the landowner retains all other rights of ownership.