LITTLE ROCK, AR – The Arkansas Department of Agriculture is proud to honor Pamela and Jim Jolly as the 2025 Forest Stewards of the Year. The Jollys have demonstrated exceptional dedication to forest stewardship on their 222-acre Patton Tree Farm located in Yell County.
Patton Tree Farm is a certified tree farm, and the Jollys were named Arkansas Tree Farm of the Year in 2020. Their land has been managed under a stewardship-management plan since 2012, and the plan includes activities such as pine thinning, road maintenance, controlled burns, and the establishment of a permanent firebreak. The land includes pine and hardwood timber.
The farm honors Pamela’s father for instilling values of landownership, conservation, and responsibility, and she hopes to leave it as a legacy for her children and grandchildren. Each year, the family organizes a work project to maintain and improve the forest, making stewardship a true family effort.
Nominations for Forest Steward of the Year come from county and consultant foresters and are reviewed by the Forest Stewardship Committee, which includes representatives from the Department, Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Central Arkansas Water, Domtar Co., Green Bay Packaging Co., Kingwood Forestry, The Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The Department’s Forest Stewardship Program recognizes private landowners who manage their forestland with a multi-use approach that supports timber production, wildlife habitat, erosion control, water-quality protection, and more. Arkansas is home to more than 1,200 certified forest- stewardship landowners.
Private landowners with 10 or more acres of forestland are eligible to participate in the Forest Stewardship Program. More information is available on the Department’s website here.
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Media Contact: Ayden Duncan, (501) 813-6012
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