Can’t see the forest for the trees … and the shrubs: The need for fire restoration in Arkansas

“Sometimes I come here and I sit and imagine what these woods looked like 500 years ago,” says McRee Anderson as he walks through the Ozark National Forest, not far from his bluff-top home near the Buffalo National River. “Then I imagine that someday, my great, great grandchildren may actually get to see what these woods looked like 500 years ago. That’s what motivates me as I work with our partners to create conditions that will allow these trees to become majestic again – giant red and white oaks with sprawling branches.”

The Bayou-Buffalo demonstration area in the Ozark National Forest showcases results from forest management practices implemented through the Fire Learning Network.
© John Andre, USFS

Historical accounts of Southern woodlands are filled with descriptions of enormous trees and open, grassy floors. These same historical accounts often detail the abundance of animals that inhabited the woodlands as well. Take a walk in the Ozarks today and you’ll likely find yourself under a dense canopy of smaller, shade-loving trees instead of in a more open forest landscape.

“Most of our historical wildlife species, including game species like deer, quail and turkey, thrive in open woodland conditions,” says Martin Blaney, habitat coordinator with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. “When forests become too dense, sunlight cannot reach the forest floor to nourish the native plants and grasses that animals need for food and cover. Over thousands of years, our wildlife adapted to coexisting with human disturbances, mostly fire and ax, that kept our forests and woodlands more open. Unfortunately, these activities were curtailed during the last century, and, as a result, our forests look quite different nowadays.”

Blaney points out that according to historical data, there were about 38 to 76 trees per acre in the Ozarks’ Boston Mountains. “Today there are about 150 trees per acre on average, plus another 300 to 1,000 young stems,” he says. “That’s pretty dense for these thin soils and limited moisture in the hills. No wonder we experienced a huge oak die-off in the late 1990s.”

Overcrowded Conditions

The oak forests, woodlands and savannas of the Ouachita and Ozark mountains, which together are known as the Interior Highlands, are the largest intact remnant of a habitat that once stretched from Oklahoma to the middle Appalachians and Eastern Seaboard.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Interior Highlands forests were heavily cut. “During the latter part of the 20th century, people began to realize what had been lost,” says Anderson, who serves as the Interior Highlands fire restoration manager for The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas. “So people did what seemed right at the time. The forests were allowed to grow, and fires, for the most part, were suppressed.”

What resulted, Anderson says, are weak forests with too many trees.

“It just makes sense that when you have three or four times the number of trees competing for the same amount of nutrients and water, you end up with a forest full of weak trees susceptible to drought, disease and pests,” Anderson says.

Case in point is the red oak borer, which in recent years has eaten its way through 1.6 million acres of Arkansas’ oaks. “The red oak borer is a native insect that’s always lived in Ozark forests,” Anderson says. “Entomologists who study these insects and these forests say an outbreak of this caliber has not happened in thousands of years.”

Overcrowded, unhealthy forests are also at risk for intense, uncontrollable wildfires that can threaten homes and communities.

Fire Fix

From September 2005 through October 2006, the Conservancy's two crews conducted 65 prescribed burns, restoring fire to nearly 15,000 acres in Arkansas.
© TNC

Throughout history, fire has played a significant role in Arkansas’ forests. Periodic lightning fires burned until they reached natural boundaries like rivers or were extinguished by rain. Before European settlement, Native Americans used fire to manage the woods and improve conditions for the animals they hunted. Early European settlers also used fire to maintain open forests with a rich mix of grasses and wildflowers.

“Fire is one of Nature’s ways of keeping forests from becoming too dense,” says John Andre, ecologist for the Bayou-Buffalo Ranger District of the Ozark National Forest. “Historically, periodic fires would consume smaller saplings and other underbrush, which improved growing conditions for larger trees and plants that grow on the forest floor. These conditions benefited wildlife as well.”

Within the past few decades, land managers like the U.S. Forest Service have begun using fire to improve the health of forests. Management plans for the Ouachita and the Ozark-St. Francis national forests, which collectively cover more than three million acres in Arkansas, include ecological fire restoration.

Back at the Ozark National Forest, the Conservancy’s Anderson is walking through an oak restoration demonstration area at the Bayou-Buffalo Ranger District (now the Big Pine Ranger Disrict), north of Russellville. The demonstration area showcases results accomplished through the Fire Learning Network, a nationwide project of the Conservancy, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior.

Working through the network, the Forest Service obtained Congressional appropriations for prescribed burns, which, in Arkansas, allowed for the creation of 15 restoration sites – totaling some 300,000 acres – on national forestlands, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife management areas and Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission natural areas in the Interior Highlands.

Six of the restoration sites, each representing a different land type, comprise the 60,000-acre Bayou-Buffalo District demonstration area. According to Andre, the Forest Service restored fire within the demo area to 30,000 acres in 2004 and 22,000 acres in 2005. Mechanical thinning is another tool managers at the Bayou-Buffalo District use to restore the forest to its historical condition by thinning out dense areas of smaller trees.

“There is definitely science behind all of what we do,” Andre says. “We use historical records, like Government Land Office surveys and tree ring and fire history studies, and we analyze current forest conditions to determine the frequencies of prescribed fires. And we specify desired ecological conditions before we begin any restoration efforts.”

Wildlife Results

At 96 plots throughout the Bayou-Buffalo demonstration area, researchers study and measure the effects of fire and thinning on trees, ground cover, shrubs, fuel loads and the soil. Results show a 40 percent increase in the number of ground plant species and an 11 percent increase in ground plant coverage with just one or two prescribed fires. And the number of shrubs, which can crowd out other ground plants, has decreased 75 percent per acre in burned areas.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ecologists say fire restoration benefits ground nesting birds like turkey and quail.
© Ark. Game and Fish Commission

These results equate to habitat that’s ideal for nearly all game animals, says Brad Carner, head of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s species coordinators. “Our folks on the ground see more game animals in areas where fire has been restored,” he says. “Anytime we make efforts to regularly burn areas, we definitely see positive responses from ground nesting birds like turkey and quail. And the burns increase forage for deer and elk and help increase their numbers as well.”

A prime example is at the Buffalo National River and the adjacent Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area, which have histories of intensive forest management, including thinnings and fire restoration. These practices have led to an “incredible increase in elk,” Carner says.

Bob Taylor, a board member for the Arkansas chapter of Quail Unlimited, says the non-profit conservation organization that focuses on improving habitat for quail and other wildlife, provides funds that match federal grants for fire restoration at the Bayou-Buffalo demo area.

“There’s an excellent management plan in place for the demo area – one that is undoubtedly enhancing wildlife habitat,” Taylor says. “We’re proud to be a part of the project.”

Partnering with Private Landowners

According to a 2002 U.S. Department of Agriculture study, 57 percent of forestlands in Arkansas are owned by families or non-forest-industry companies. Comprehensive forest restoration plans must include private lands to be effective at a meaningful scale in the Natural State.

To help private landowners who want to restore fire to their land, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has funded a Landowner Incentive Program targeting certain wildlife focal areas in Arkansas. The Nature Conservancy and the Arkansas Game and Fish, Natural Heritage and Forestry commissions are implementing the program. Since it began in 2004, more than 50 landowners have enrolled. The partners have conducted controlled burns on nearly 6,000 acres of private land and held several workshops to share information with landowners about prescribed fire and wildlife management. Volunteer firefighters are joining the effort as well, by receiving prescribed fire training and helping landowners conduct controlled burns. To learn more about the Landowner Incentive Program, contact the Conservancy’s Jason Milks by phone at (501) 614-5080 or by e-mail at jmilks@tnc.org.

Partnership Vital to Arkansas Forest Restoration

“Partnership is the most vital component to the Fire Learning Network,” says McRee Anderson of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas. “Our goal is to restore 500,000 acres in the Interior Highlands. No agency or organization can do it alone.” Currently, partners have enrolled 306,000 acres of land in the Interior Highlands in the Fire Learning Network.

Partners at the Bayou-Buffalo demonstration area include:

• U.S. Department of the Interior
• U.S. Forest Service
• National Park Service, Buffalo National River
• Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
• Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission
• Arkansas Forestry Commission
• National Wild Turkey Federation
• Quail Unlimited
• Southwest Fire Use Training Academy
• Caddo Nation of Oklahoma
• Arkansas Audubon Society
• The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas

Learn more about the Conservancy's Global Fire Initiative.