Woodlands studies
Field Day highlights forestry, wildlife programs
Oct. 3, 2006Contact Information:Mike Phillips, director, Southwest Research and Extension Center
870-777-9702, Ext. 102 | mphillips@uaex.edu
Hal Liechty, Arkansas Forest Resources Center
870-460-1452 | liechty@uamont.edu
By Fred Miller, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
479-575-5647 / fmiller@uark.edu
Extension forestry instructor Kyle Cunningham shows how to field grade hardwood timber during the Forestry and Wildlife Field Day at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope, Ark. 
Dr. Hal Liechty, associate professor of hydrology and ecology at the Arkansas Forest Resources Center in Monticello, discusses research about the use of poultry litter for ferticlizing pine forests during the Forestry and Wildlife Field Day at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope, Ark. Liechty described research on the use of poultry litter as fertilizer during a forestry and wildlife field day Sept. 28 at the Southwest Research and Extension Center (SWREC) near Hope.
The field day featured Division of Agriculture research and extension faculty and speakers from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Forestry Commission. Participants toured hardwood and pine test plots to see demonstrations of the research and education topics.
“Forests appear to be more environmentally friendly than pastures for litter applications,” Liechty said.
He said forests have high water infiltration rates, meaning that water is more likely to soak into the ground and leave less to run off into streams. Water runoff from pine forest test plots at Hope was less than 25 percent of runoff from pasture plots in the first two years of a study Liechty is conducting with other researchers at SWREC and the Forest Resources Center.
Similarly, Liechty said, phosphorus levels in runoff from the forest plots also was less than 25 percent of phosphorus levels in runoff from pasture plots.
Liechty said the trees in the phosphorus plots showed about 20 percent greater growth than trees in control plots without poultry litter. Generally, plots with higher tree densities showed a greater growth response to the litter fertilizer.
The study also looked at methods of applying litter with litter trucks and manure spreaders in existing pine plantation forests.
As environmental concerns grow about applying poultry litter to pastures, forests offer an alternative with fewer environmental risks, Liechty said.
Other topics covered at the field day included field grading of hardwood trees, relating tree grade to sawn lumber grade, using tree shelters for hardwood seedling establishment, wetlands considerations in forestry and wildlife management concerns. Participants also heard about using wild plants as forage for wildlife, the effects of herbicide and fertilizer on young pines and comparing weed control treatments in pines.