Recovery of Planted Loblolly Pine 5 Years after Severe Ice Storms in Arkansas

formed after the event may be unacceptable for high-value products, such as dimensional lumber or plywood. Clearly, more information is needed about the relationship between the recovery of injured trees and the type and extent of damage so that landowners can make sound silvicultural decisions. To this end, this study monitored the 5-year performance of 410 ice-damaged trees from six 18–20-yearold loblolly pine plantations in south-central Arkansas. Materials and Methods The Arkansas Ice Storms of 2000 Two massive ice storms struck the Arkansas region in late 2000, affecting 17 million ac of forest and inflicting $500 million in damage (Forgrave 2001, Bragg et al. 2003). The first storm occurred on December 12–13, 2000, and affected much of the southern half of Arkansas (National Climatic Data Center [NCDC] 2001). Although ice totals varied considerably, maximum accumulations approached 4 in. and ranged from 1.2 to 2.4 in. across most of the study area (NCDC 2001). This initial storm, which did virtually all of the damage to the stands reported in this article, was followed about 2 weeks later by another icing event that struck other parts of west-central Arkansas (e.g., the Ouachita National Forest) severely but was not as damaging in southern Arkansas (NCDC 2001). Study Area The study area is part of the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain and is dominated by gently rolling hills of eroded Eocene deposits and Pleistocene terraces separated by narrow bottomlands of Holocene alluvium. The natural vegetation of the region is primarily pinehardwood mixtures of varying compositions. However, a large portion of the uplands (especially the properties controlled by the timber industry or investment organizations) have been converted to intensively managed loblolly pine plantations. The loblolly plantations in this study were owned by International Paper Company (IP) at the time of the ice storms and had an intended sawtimber rotation age of 30–35 years (depending on site conditions). Immediately after the ice storms, representatives of IP, the University of Arkansas–Monticello, and the US Forest Service met to discuss research opportunities. In addition to identifying a range of different-aged pine plantations for a quick assessment of damage as a function of stand condition (reported in Bragg et al. 2004), IP agreed to set aside certain small parcels for long-term recovery work. Six study sites of 1–5 ac were reserved for this study—four were located in Dallas County, one in Grant County, and one in Jefferson County in south-central Arkansas (Figure 1). These stands were 18–20-year-old plantations that had been thinned once in the years immediately preceding the storms but were not fertilized (Bragg et al. 2002). Loblolly plantations of this condition and age were selected primarily because they sustained extensive damage and represented the conventional management approach of most industrial landowners in the region. These parcels were not deliberately salvaged following the ice storms of 2000 to avoid any mechanical damage to the pines being studied. The study ended in 2006 following the sale of these lands by IP. Sample Tree Selection Loblolly pines, especially those with bent stems, began to recover immediately following the storm, and thus April was the latest we believed we could identify and accurately measure these injured trees. Expedience and the wide range of damage to the pines, coupled with the complex injuries often sustained by individual trees (for example, some had been bent, lost branches, and had their tops sheared off), made it virtually impossible to set up specific hypothesis tests on what damage type proved most problematic prior to the initiation of the growing season. Therefore, rather than spending an inordinate amount of time trying to locate and track a small number of stems, we chose as many examples of the primary damage types as