ACFB creates forest-fact database

Matthew Pelkki (center) director of the Arkansas Center for Forest Business, addresses the Bradley County Economic Development Commission members. 
(Special to The Commercial/University of Arkansas at Monticello)
Matthew Pelkki (center) director of the Arkansas Center for Forest Business, addresses the Bradley County Economic Development Commission members. (Special to The Commercial/University of Arkansas at Monticello)

The Arkansas Center for Forest Business at the University of Arkansas at Monticello has built a database full of Arkansas forest facts. The newly created center wants to share their statistics with economic decision makers and civic groups.

This week, the Bradley County Economic Development Commission (BCEDC) at Warren featured Matthew Pelkki, director at ACFB, professor at UAM and George H. Clippert, Endowed Chair.

Pelkki was accompanied by Sagar Chhetri, postdoctoral economist, and Ana Gutierrez, research associate with the center. They were invited by BCEDC Chairman Bob Moore, according to a news release.

The trio made presentations with collective information and hard numbers regarding forest and forest industry economic contributions in Bradley County and then answered questions from the group. The presentation provided data that support what many already know -- the value of the wood industry to Bradley County is inescapable.

"Bradley County's economy is roughly 20 times more dependent on forestry than the national average and five times more than the state average," Pelkki said. "The average employee compensation for forest industry workers is $58,438, which is 129% of the county average. One of every five jobs in Bradley County is dependent on the forest products industry."

Gutierrez described carbon markets available to forest landowners in Bradley County. Gutierrez told members of the Bradley EDC that growers aren't taking full advantage of their resources.

"Ninety-four percent of the 367,901 acres of forest land in Bradley County are privately owned and could be selling carbon credits," Gutierrez said. "Some carbon markets, however, require extremely long contracts of 40 to 100 years, and may not be appropriate for southern tree farmers."

The ACFB is monitoring and learning about these developing markets in order to help landowners capture this value.

When the forestry industry is mentioned, most people think of timber, logging and lumber. There is another element of forestry that often is overlooked.

Chhetri presented on the value of Warren's urban forests. Chhetri told the Bradley decision makers that trees can make a huge difference to the land values in a community.

"Urban trees and forests are known to improve property values, but we don't harvest them for timber," Chhetri said. "But they still contribute value to the community in other ways. For example, annually the forests in the city of Warren remove the amount of carbon dioxide (a major climate change gas) that is emitted by 1,620 automobiles."

Chhetri said that trees at Warren control water runoff and save an estimated 13,586 gallons of water annually. Assuming that a single person consumes about 82 gallons per day, Warren's trees save water for 166 people's consumption.

The estimated amount for air pollutants removal is $391,000, including carbon monoxide, ozone, and other air pollutants (e.g., nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and others).

Many of the forest facts listed county by county is available on the ACFB website, https://www.uamont.edu/academics/CFANR/acfb_factsheets.html.

The Arkansas Center for Forest Business (ACFB) was funded by the Arkansas Legislature in 2021. Pelkki has been making presentations about forestry for more than 20 years to economic agencies and civic services organizations.

ACFB can customize their presentation based on their the most up-to-date information on Arkansas's forests.

Economic agencies and civic service groups interested in booking the ACFB to make a presentation can do so by e-mailing Pelkki at forestbusiness@uamont.edu or by calling (870) 460-1949.

ACFB is located at the UAM College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 110 University, Monticello, Ark., 71656.

Lon Tegels is with the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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