The Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division works with a wide range of partners to conserve, protect, and enhance Arkansas’s forests. More than half of the state’s timberland is owned by private, non-industrial forest landowners, and the Division plays a key role in supporting those landowners with sound forest management practices.
The Forestry Division collaborates with private forest landowners, forest industries, universities and research institutions, forestry consultants, and natural resource agencies at the local, state, and federal levels.
Forest Management Programs
The Division’s Forest Management Section oversees a variety of programs designed to benefit landowners, communities, and the forest industry:
- Forest Health Program – Monitors forest pests and diseases and provides technical guidance to landowners on how to detect, manage, and mitigate damage.
- Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program – Collects annual data on the growth, mortality, and health of Arkansas’s forests to inform long-term planning and policy decisions.
- Forest Legacy Program – Helps protect private forests from development by working with willing sellers to place land under conservation easements or fee simple acquisition.
- Forest Stewardship Program – Offers landowners the opportunity to receive personalized forest management plans from professional foresters and natural resource experts.
- Forestry Best Management Practices (BMP) Program – Promotes and monitors voluntary best management practices that protect water quality by minimizing soil erosion and runoff during forestry operations.
- Reforestation Program – Produces millions of high-quality seedlings each year through Baucum Nursery to support reforestation efforts across the state.
- Technical Service Provider for NRCS – The Division is the primary forestry Technical Service Provider for landowners enrolled in USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs, helping implement conservation practices on private lands.
- Urban and Community Forestry Program – Provides technical assistance and grants to Arkansas communities for tree planting, urban forest planning, and education.