Kingsland Prairie Preserve: Tending a forest for ecological sustainability and economic viability

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By Jay Harrod, May 2008

Joe Fox walked through the woods at Kingsland Prairie Preserve like a good shepherd might walk through his flock.

Joe Fox at Kingsland Prairie Preserve © TNC

On a sunny spring day, Joe pointed out a section of Kingsland Prairie where many of the trees – mostly loblolly pine – were harvested in late 2006. He was looking for pine seedlings that had germinated after a prescribed burn. When he found them, he seemed as excited as a shepherd welcoming the birth of a lamb.

Joe, who has worked for the Conservancy since 2000 and is director of conservation forestry, visits Kingsland and the Conservancy’s other conservation forestry sites regularly. He monitors ongoing timber management, ensuring contractors follow the Conservancy’s plan. He checks the effects of fires on the forest months and years after the burns. And it’s obvious when visiting Kingsland with Joe that he visits because he loves the place and his job.

Forestry is in Joe’s blood. His grandfather, father and uncle started a lumber and sawmill business, W.S. Fox and Sons Lumber Company, where Joe worked for 20 years. After his family sold the business in 1993, Joe continued to work in forestry and wood products before joining the Conservancy.

In many ways, Joe’s experience with his family business prepared him well for the Conservancy’s conservation forestry program, which tests and showcases timber operations that are ecologically sustainable and provide good economic returns.

“Unless landowners demanded otherwise, W.S. Fox and Sons always thinned the trees. We didn’t clear-cut forests,” Joe said. “And we let the trees regenerate naturally.”

Today, it’s commonplace for landowners to clear-cut forests and then create rows of elevated beds to keep newly planted seedlings above standing water that can inhibit their growth. In addition, most plantations in Arkansas grow just one species – loblolly pine.

“Unlike plantations, natural pine flatwoods have wetter and drier areas, which increases the variety of trees,” Joe said. “A greater abundance and diversity of animals live in natural pine flatwoods. I’ve seen more turkey on Conservancy land than I have in my entire career in the woods before I started working here.” 

Kingsland Prairie Preserve © TNC

Since the Conservancy purchased Kingsland Prairie in 2002, Joe has overseen its management, which involves prescribed fire to maintain open woodlands, like those that dominated south Arkansas’ landscape before the late 1800s.

“Conservancy crews have conducted prescribed burns on most of the land at Kingsland once and much of it twice or more,” Joe said. “The fire has done exactly what we hoped it would. It’s knocked back woody competition on the prairies and thinned the mid-story trees in the surrounding woodlands. The wildflowers here are fantastic now.”

But fire alone does not accomplish the Conservancy’s goals at Kingsland.

“Red-cockaded woodpeckers once lived here, and our target is to restore habitat suitable for them,” Joe said.

Open, mature pine forests with a basal area (an expression of tree density) of about 70 square feet per acre is what researchers have deemed as the target density for the continued recovery of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers.

Joe Fox demonstrates the use of a prism to asses tree density. © TNC

“Forests are always changing,” Joe said. “They grow through our target density. When they become too dense, we thin them back beyond our target density that so that they’ll once again grow through that target.”

When the Conservancy purchased Kingsland, almost the entire tract – with the exception of the prairies – was a crowded 100 square feet or more of basal area per acre. The Conservancy developed plans to thin the forests in four timber sales, the last of which is scheduled for this summer. To date, proceeds from the timber sales have enabled the Conservancy to pay for 84 percent of the preserve’s purchase price. The remaining 16 percent was paid for with private donations from the Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable Trust and many supporters. Timber revenue has also funded prescribed burns.

“Now that the 620 forested acres at Kingsland have been thinned, we should be able to thin about 100 acres every few years from here on out,” Joe said. “The money we make from future timber sales can be used for continued stewardship and monitoring plants and animals to make sure they are responding well to our efforts. And we can use leftover money to conserve other properties.”

After six years, Joe said Kingsland Prairie has proven that landowners can manage their forests sustainably and make money.

“Prescribed fire and ecological thinning work. They work for the environment and for the landowners,” said Joe, smiling as he surveyed Kingsland, much like a proud shepherd would survey his flock.

Learn more about the Conservancy's Conservation Forestry program in Arkansas.