Feb. 18, 2022
Sustaining forest starts with planting trees
By Lon Tegels
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Fast facts:
- Eighty-two acres of UAM forests replanted
- Workers plant 10-12 tree seedlings per minute
- Tree planters valued part of Arkansas forest industry
(979 words)
(Newsrooms: with additional art at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzCSax, and video at https://youtu.be/Caads74S2ZI)
MONTICELLO, Ark. — The University of Arkansas at Monticello replanted its 82-acre harvested area of university-owned forest next to the Drew County Fairgrounds. A crew of 10 planted 36,000 seedlings in less than two days. Forest Manager Bobby Webb said the last time trees were hand-planted trees on the UAM forest was in 2011.
Growing pine trees in Arkansas is similar to growing corn in Iowa or soybeans in Illinois. Crop seeds are planted, mature and harvested. Instead of a short growing season during a single summer, a stand of pine trees can take decades. The difference between row crop maturity and forest maturity is time. It takes lots of time, almost 30 years, for a pine seedling to grow to maturity. The loblolly pines planted this month won't be ready for harvest until 2052. Foresters will thin the trees in about 10-12 years and again in 17-22 years to keep them healthy and speed their growth.
Tree planters arrive
A professional tree planting crew from Bradly County, Arkansas, arrived on Feb. 10. Ten workers knocked out 82 acres of land in about two days. At best, it's a difficult job, and the forest industry depends on immigrant workers to get this tough job done.
Arkansas Center for Forest Business Director Dr. Matthew Pelkki said, "the tree planters are a key part of the Arkansas Forest Industry." A good planter can plant as many as 2000 plants a day by hand, he said. "They are working amazingly hard, and we have great planting crews."
The University of Arkansas at Monticello, College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources Dean Michael Blazier teaches a silviculture class. He took his silviculture lab to the tree planting site.
"The professional tree planting is used as a teaching tool," Blazier said. "The most important thing we do in forest management from a sustainability standpoint is promptly replant after a site has been harvested."
After watching the pros at work, each student was handed a "dibble," a specialized spade for planting. They pushed the spade into the soil, inserted the seedling and then packed it with soil so that oxygen doesn't dry out the planting. The students also double-checked the spacing of the professional crew, using a pole to ensure 10 feet between trees.
"The students will emulate what the planting crews are doing in proper planting techniques," said Blazier.
Forest economics
Pelkki says the cost of each seedling is 12-13 cents. The labor cost of planting is about 8 cents per tree paid to the planter. Each planter can do 1500-2000 trees a day. The total cost is $92 acre on 10 X 10-foot spacing. He said, "That calculates to 435 trees per acre which is more than needed for the final harvest. Trees will be thinned in about 10-12 years and again at 17-22 years of age, leaving 70-80 trees left for the final harvest. At the final harvest, each tree will bring about 35 to $50 for the 2 tons of merchantable wood in each tree at that time. He says that when all the math and economics are calculated, timber produces about a 12-15 percent return on investment which is better than the stock market.
Students Dig In
The soil in the area being planted was "a hard clay pan. It's really dry; we're in a drought year. It's a little harder than normal to plant"," said forestry student Tanner Scott. "It's not working as well as we would like it to."
As for spacing, Scott said the professional crew was "spot on. Without using a pole, they are about as close as you can get to a 10-foot distance."
"They are not going to measure every tree, " Scott said. "If they did it, it would take a week instead of just a couple of days."
According to Blazier, replanting works best while the weather is still cool and the seedlings dormant. Last fall, the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources began preparing 85 acres of forestland for replanting. The university hired a helicopter to come in and spray the chemical on the plot to ensure the seedlings had a stronger chance of survival and had a chance to grow above the weeds.
"They told me this morning two days,” said Forest Manager Bobby Webb. "But now I'm thinking a day and a half at the most. They have gone fast."
The planters finished the job in about 12 hours.
"They make that estimate when they start planting but don't know until they get into the tree stand and walk through to see how bad the briars are," Webb said. "They were pretty quick, really quick. I checked behind them this morning, and their spacing was good; trees are tight, no air pockets and no ‘J’ roots.
Tree planting career earns respect
Forestry student Alexis Mondragon has planted trees before, but that doesn't make the task any easier.
"I definitely respect the guys who are out here," he said. "I know it's a lot of hard work and labor-intensive."
Mondragon said he thinks the public needs to better understand harvesting and clearcutting.
"I think people look at an area that has been clear cut, and it bothers the public when they don't know what's going on," he said. "They want to drive down the road and see a pretty forest, but they don't realize to have that pretty forest, you have to clear cut and replant it to have that look.
"Forest management helps maintain the aesthetics they like," he said.
Blazier said the field labs are part of the hands-on forest management experience at UAM.
"The purpose of forest management is twofold,” he said. “We want to provide good habitat within the teaching environment. We also want a good teaching system so students can understand how forests, in this particular case, pine forests, would be managed in real-world conditions."
About the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Arkansas Forest Resources Center
The College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, a University of Arkansas System Center of Excellence, brings together interdisciplinary expertise through a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The College and Center are headquartered at the University of Arkansas at Monticello campus, but their programs range statewide with the mission of developing and delivering teaching, research, and extension programs that enhance and ensure the sustainability and productivity of forest-based natural resources and agricultural systems. Academic programs are delivered by the College of Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources through the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Through the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, research is administered by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and extension and outreach activities are coordinated by the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
The University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offer all of their programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and are Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employers.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media contact:
Lon Tegels
College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources
The University of Arkansas at Monticello
tegels@uamont.edu
870-460-1852