Matthew Pelkki

MONTICELLO — Arkansas’ forests are overweight and becoming more obese every year. According to the US Forest Service census of our forests, our forests had 630 million tons standing timber in 1970. Today, Arkansas forests boast a hefty 1.1 billion tons of standing timber. We have added about 10% to our forest land, but that still represents a whopping weight gain. The growth of our forests isn’t slowing down … yet. According to the Arkansas Division of Forestry, each year our forests grow by more than 50 million tons, while all harvests and removals are 27 million tons. That means every year our forests are increasing their stocking by about 23 million tons. Our forests are becoming unhealthy. My cardiologist tells me that I cannot keep gaining weight every year or I’ll have some real health problems. Forests don’t have heart attacks, but they are subject to insects, diseases and fires that can ravage the landscape and peoples’ lives.