For 10 straights days from 25 April through May 3, U.S. Forest Service personnel from the Southern Research Station, Region 8, and State and Private Forestry (S&PF) taught a short course on southern pine silviculture as part of the National Advanced Silviculture Program (NASP). The silviculture certification program for the Forest Service, NASP consists of four core training modules led by academic institutions, and a fifth local area module developed specifically to build expertise in regional forest types.
Jim Guldin, project leader for both of the SRS southern pine research units, and Jeff Matthews, Region 8 silviculturist, coordinated this year’s local area module for Region 8, which featured intensive study of southern pine ecology, restoration, and management. The fifteen students who attended the course traveled to three different locations over the 10 days of the program:
• Mena, Arkansas, to learn about shortleaf pine restoration on the Ouachita National Forest;
• Crossett, Arkansas, to learn about managing upper west Gulf Coastal Plain loblolly-shortleaf pine stands on the Crossett Experimental Forest; and
• Pineville, Louisiana, to learn about lower west Gulf Coastal Plain longleaf pine ecology and management on the Palustris Experimental Forest and the Calcasieu RD of the Kisatchie National Forest.
“A highlight of the session was an evening reception at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park Lodge in Arkansas with Region 8’s Regional Forester Tony Tooke, who was visiting the Ouachita National Forest with Forest Supervisor Norm Wagoner and Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor Ben Battle,” said Guldin. “Tooke, a former certified Region 8 silviculturist, remarked on the importance of an active silviculture program to meet the restoration and management goals for Region 8 National Forests and Grasslands.”
From the USFS Southern Research Station: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2016/05/18/2016-southern-pine-silviculture-training-held-in-arkansas-and-louisiana/