Arkansas Agriculture Edition 25 : Page 15
is probably an understatement. The closest thing to catastrophic tree species loss we’ve almost experienced was the oak borer infestation back in the 1990s. Luckily, our forests and wildlife averted disaster, and the oak trees recovered. That wasn’t the case for the chinquapins. The chestnut blight was the downfall of the chinquapin. The result of a fungus brought into our country on imported Asian trees around the early 1900s, the blight almost wiped them out. The infected trees were logged – along with some healthy ones – and today, any wild chinquapins are growing out of those stumps. The wild saplings don’t make it; most succumb to the blight in about five years. But there is hope. Organizations such as the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation (OCF) supply landowners with chinquapin seedlings to plant on their property. The OCF is also working with foresters to produce a blight-resistant chinquapin and one day restore this towering food source to its native Arkansas habitat. Landowner Kevin Baker of Pottsville. recently joined the OCF. Stephien Bost “I joined because from what I’ve read about the tree, it sounds like the perfect food source for wildlife. It grows well in rocky, upland soil which is what makes up most of the 40 acres I own and hunt on in Pope County.” ignore white oak acorns to get to them. As a deer hunter, having watched whitetails munch on acorns like I do on peanut M&Ms, this astounds me. The trees were drought tolerant and readily grew on the rocky, acidic soils found in the mountains of Arkansas. They were towering trees, sometimes more than 60 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter. The chinquapin bloomed in late May and early June, after the spring frosts, and provided a mast crop without fail every autumn. Losing the chinquapin changed the complexion of our forests, and it changed them forever. Forestry experts say that the loss of this vital food source lowered the population densities of many animals native to the mountain ranges and river valley. However, the local animals weren’t the only ones that suffered when the chinquapin began to die. Early settlers in this region, the Ozark Highlands in particular, used the mast for livestock feed and for food themselves. The nuts taste sweet, not bitter like tannin-filled acorns. To say that chinquapins were important to a homesteader back in the 1800s Baker says he manages his property for more and healthier wildlife. “The chinquapin is fast growing and produces mast in just a couple of years. If the foundation succeeds with their goal of producing a blight-resistant strain of the chinquapin, it will do wonders for our native wildlife.” If interested in finding out more about the campaign to save the Ozark chinquapin or for information about planting chinquapins on your land, contact the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation at ozarkchinquapin.com . ŒŒŒ* Arkansas Agriculture 15
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