Program aims to curb loss of rural land owned by African Americans

The Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Program has started at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with the goal to promote forest health and stem the loss of African-American owned rural land.
The program began Saturday and will be conducted in Columbia, Hempstead, Howard, Little River, Nevada, Ouachita and Union counties. Joe Friend, former district forester with the Arkansas Forestry Commission, has been hired by UAPB to work with landowners in the SFLR Program.
The Small Farm Program at UAPB has received a grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities to implement the SFLR Program, said Dr. Henry English, head of the Small Farm Program at UAPB.
The SFLR Program is part of the "Keeping it in the Family" forest conservation model, which is a collaboration of federal, state, local, private and community-based organizations to eliminate barriers to keeping private forest lands in families. The U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service are partnering with the U.S. Endowment on the forest management program.
"We want landowners to realize the value of properly managed forest land," Dr. English said.
For example, a well-managed pine stand will yield 2.5 tons per acre per year while an unmanaged stand may yield 1 ton per acre per year or less. Properly managed forest land will be ready to harvest in 30 to 35 years as compared with unmanaged forest land that will probably take 50 years, according to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture publication FSA 5023 "Managing Loblolly Pine Stands from A to Z."
To reach the goal of increasing forest landowner income, English said the program will provide:
  Forestry management outreach meetings.
  One-on-one forestry management assistance.
  Forestry management plans through the Arkansas Forestry Commission .
  Financial assistance in installing forestry improvement practices through the Natural Resource Conservation Service's Environmental Quality Incentive Program.
  Legal service to resolve heir property issues.
  A revolving loan plan to pay contractors while waiting for reimbursement from the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.
  A multifaceted approach to timber markets.
The immediate program goal is to help at least 20 forest landowners qualify for forestry assistance through programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, the Southern Pine Beetle Prevention and Restoration Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
Other organizations partnering with UAPB include the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts, the Arkansas Land and Community Development, the Silas H. Hunt Community Development Corporation and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law.
For more information, contact English at (870) 575-7246 or [email protected], or Kandi Williams, SFLR outreach coordinator, at [email protected].