Recently, I was able to spend some time in the woods with my Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Private Lands Biologist, Josh Melton. We met at my property to look at the results of the work so far and to talk through his recommendations for what comes next. I’ve owned these 40 acres for almost three years, and in that time, I’ve burned it twice during the dormant season, had seven acres mulched, completed timber stand improvement (TSI) using a hack-and-squirt treatment, and cut a lot of cedar. At this point, every acre has been treated multiple times.
When I first looked at the property, it needed some attention. It was primarily an overstocked oak-hickory forest, and Eastern Red Cedar had encroached significantly in both the understory and midstory. Elm, sweetgum, and black gum were also present. Very little sunshine was reaching the ground, which was covered in hardwood leaf litter. Poison ivy and Virginia creeper were the predominant species growing at ground level.
But the potential was evident. The overstory contained a mix of white oak, post oak, black oak, red oak, and hickory, with white oak as the dominant species. I found a small patch of Little Bluestem grass on the north end, and on the south end I found more Little Bluestem in two small remnant glades. Scattered around the property were other small clumps of native grasses.
After I bought the property, I grabbed my chainsaw and went to work on the cedar. I’m now down to about two acres left to cut. Then I grabbed a drip torch, called a few friends, and put fire back on the ground for the first time in many decades. I followed that with a hatchet and herbicide to control some of the midstory and understory species I didn’t want. In a hack-and-squirt treatment, cuts are made into the stem and herbicide is applied directly into those cuts. A year later, it was back to the torch.
After three years, the entire area has been thinned using all three tools: chainsaw, drip torch, and hatchet. Now there is abundant sunshine reaching the ground. Big Bluestem and Little Bluestem grasses are showing up across the tract, along with browse from American beautyberry and oak and hickory sprouts. The leaf litter has been greatly reduced, and species such as butterfly milkweed, pale purple coneflower, tickseed coreopsis, spiderwort, and partridge pea are emerging from the seedbank.
There is still work to do. I need to go back and hit some stubborn hickory with another hack-and-squirt treatment. They are slowly fading away, but patience isn’t exactly a strong suit of mine. There is also that last pocket of cedar to put on the ground with a chainsaw. After that, I’ll continue burning on a regular rotation of about three years. I may break the property into three burn units so there is always a mix of plant succession stages across the area. Josh and I also discussed when it will be appropriate to introduce growing-season burning into the mix. Dormant-season burns are done when plants are not actively growing, while growing-season burns can shift the response and often favor forbs and wildflowers over grass. Even at a small scale, the habitat work private landowners do can make a real difference.
If you want to learn more about how different plant species respond to fire, visit the AlphaFire webpage at Alpharackusa.com and go to Fire Resources > Helpful Links > Fire Effects Information System. The Fire Effects Information System is a product of the USDA Forest Service and is a useful resource for looking up individual species and learning more about their fire ecology and fire effects. If you manage land of your own, resources like this—and guidance from a private lands biologist—can help you make better habitat decisions.
