Expand Markets for Timber Products and Support Farmer Implementation of Hardwood Restoration in the Southern Bottomland Region

The Restoring Bottomland Hardwood Forests Project helps Arkansas landowners and producers plant bottomland hardwood forests on their working land. It is led by the Arkansas Forest Resources Center in the University of Arkansas System and funded by a $3.71 million grant from USDA's Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) program.

Mixed hardwood and oak plantations are planted in three regions: the Red River Valley in southwest Arkansas, the Ouachita River Valley in south-central Arkansas and the Bayou Meto Watershed in eastern Arkansas. The project aims to help participating landowners benefit from timber and carbon markets.

• Own land in the Red River Valley, Ouachita River Valley or Bayou Meto Watershed of Arkansas.

• Have a clear title to the land.

• There is no acreage limit in the current project cycle.

• Be willing to give the project team access to the site for planting and monitoring for seven years.

• The project team decides eligibility after a site visit.

The grant will cover all planting costs, including labor, seedlings, and maintenance. Services at no cost to landowners include forest management workshops, site visits by professionals, financial assistance with seedlings and other materials for plantation establishment and management, a forest management plan based on your objectives, and help with property management issues. Participating landowners will have a restored forest "free and clear" once the project is complete.

Recruited landowners should allow access to the planting sites for:

• University research team including graduate students, technicians, and postdocs

• Contractors and the necessary equipment for site preparation and planting

• Sample collection such as soil samples for site evaluation and carbon measurements

• Demonstration events and outreach activities including workshops and field trips open to other landowners in the project watersheds

Landowners enroll through the project's partner, the Keeping It in the Family Program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). Enrollment has four steps:

1. Download the project's Landowner Profile Form and fill it out with the UAPB team. Any of the project contacts on this page can get you started.

2. The UAPB team reviews the application and does a first assessment of the property.

3. The UAPB team and the project technician schedule a site visit.

4. The project team decides eligibility based on the site visit and the property's condition.

This is the project's own form. It is different from the general Landowner Profile Form on the website of UAPB's Keeping It in the Family Program. The project team provided this copy in November 2026.

The form asks for:

• County, contact details and mailing address

• Total acres and the acres available for the project

• Whether you have clear title and who controls the land

• Latitude and longitude, and a property map

• Site type (tree species, cover, flood plain or other), site history and current cover

• Consulting forester

• Your management goals

• Any periods when the site can't be accessed

• Whether you agree to the property being used for demonstration

• Any hunting leases or conservation easements

• Whether the boundaries are clearly marked