Arkansas and the timber company Potlatch Forest Holdings Inc. have agreed on a conservation easement that will open up roughly 16,000 acres to public use and will provide protection for several plant and animal species.

The Moro Big Pine Conservation project is in southern Calhoun County near Moro Bay State Park. The area was formerly accessible only to deer hunting club members who leased parts of the land. Public access will begin next July after hunting leases expire and structures like clubhouses and deer stands are removed.

Potlatch will continue to work the land to produce timber, but within some guidelines agreed among the ... partners. Scott Simon of The Nature Conservancy said that along with no development, this would mean an extended rotation for pine trees - something like 45 years from planting to harvest instead of the more common 20 years. Natural regeneration would be used instead of planting seedlings. "Ecological thinning" would be worked along with prescribed fires - controlled burns.

The long rotation in tree harvesting is meant to protect the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, which lives in larger, mature pines. Potlatch has already been committed to protecting Moro Big Pine's loblolly-shortleaf pine flatwoods, which is "one of the least-protected plant communities in the United States."

To learn more about the planned uses for the easement read Joe Mosby's article from the Arkansas News Bureau.