who we are & what we do
partee p1 flp is a family owned timber & land company
Perrin Partee: Biologist & Land Manager at Partee P1 FLP
Click photo for Greenhead magazine article
Now under management with the third generation, our family is focused on balancing business revenues with conservation. Our top priority is to practice water, wildlife, and soil conservation when conducting timber sales.
wildlife habitat Management & development
Waterfowl impoundment levee instillation at WingSelect.
The family partnership owns and manages around 3100 acres for timber production. These tracts range anywhere from 20 to 200 acres and are scattered across Columbia, Union, Nevada, and Lafayette counties in Southern Arkansas. Our 1200 acre tract in Ouachita County, Arkansas (WingSelect Farms) lies within the Ouachita River floodplain and has been the primary site for wildlife habitat development & management. We have developed over 60 acres in moist soil units and green tree reservoirs that are managed for migrating waterfowl and other wetland species. In addition, around 30 acres of upland and bottomland wildlife openings are managed for early successional habitat, providing refuge for various pollinators and other native wildlife. We also utilize prescribed fire on our upland sites to maintain early successional habitat for a variety of species.
Invasive species, prey species, & mesopredator MANAGEMENT
Mallards loafing in button brush on a managed moist soil wetland at WingSelect.
The extirpation of native apex predators (Red Wolves & Florida Panthers) has resulted in larger numbers of certain prey species (in particular white-tailed deer) and mesopredators (mid-sized predators i.e. raccoons & skunks). To help compensate for this loss in the ecosystem, we implement management practices that include mesopredator removal, and white-tailed deer harvest to keep populations at or below carrying capacity. Introduced species like wild hogs and Chinese bushclover are removed as well to reduce competition with native species.
timber management & sales
Pine plantation clear cut at WingSelect.
We conduct timber sales annually by harvesting tracts of timber using best management practices. What do we mean by this? When we harvest tracts, we try to leave a good structure of older age class trees, periodically thin areas to promote early successional habitat, replant species that are well matched to the site, and maintain streamside management zones.
Emphasis on hardwoods
Bottomland hardwoods at WingSelect.
If you drive through southern Arkansas today, most of the roads will be lined on both sides with loblolly pine. Hardwoods are becoming harder to find in Southern Arkansas as timber production is prioritized over wildlife habitat. As a result, the Southern U.S. has an oversupply of standing pine timber. This, in combination with increasingly efficient sawmills, has left pine stumpage prices at lows that have not recovered since the financial crisis of 2008. Hardwood prices on the other hand have risen as supplies have dwindled.
As both a business and conservation decision, we are focusing on growing hardwoods where sites are suitable. Although their growth rates are slower, the mast production from hardwoods benefits wildlife and the higher prices help offset some of the loss in growth rates.
Looking to the past
Prairie Warbler singing in the shrubby habitat of a naturally regenerating 4 year old bottomland hardwood clear cut at WingSelect.
A good portion of our timberlands were planted in a monoculture of loblolly pine. Although these plantations provide better wildlife habitat than a paved road or mowed lawn, the biodiversity has been greatly reduced by planting a single tree species. Prior to European colonization, this region, the West Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas, was a rich & diverse ecosystem, composed of mature pines & hardwoods in the uplands, that were frequented by periodic fires. These uplands were intermittently dissected by the mature bottomland hardwood forest of meandering creeks, rivers & bayous.
During the 19th and 20th century, forest were cleared to make way for small farms across southern Arkansas. Old inefficient farming methods resulted in a patchwork of early successional habitat that boded well for bobwhite quail. However, as these inefficient farms began to discontinue operations, old fencerows and former cotton fields grew up in late successional stands of timber, resulting in very little early successional/grassland habitat. As a result of this shift in land-use during the mid 20th century, bobwhite quail numbers began a precipitous decline.
Pine plantations, naturally regenerating forests, and cattle/hay pastures are now the dominate land-type in Southern Arkansas. Dense timber stands and cattle pastures composed of matt-forming invasive grasses provide very little native early successional habitat on the landscape.
Although the lack of early successional habitat resulted in fewer quail, some game species responded well to the forested habitat. For instance, after repopulation efforts, white-tailed deer numbers rebounded and wild turkey populations followed suite after repopulation efforts during the mid to late 20th century.
looking to the future
Oxbow lake at WingSelect provides habitat for aquatic and terrestrial species (i.e. prothonotary warblers, wood ducks, and crappie).
Looking to the past we can see how land-use alters habitats and, therefore, the species that utilize these habitats. Looking to the future, it is our job to learn which land-use practices benefit the highest diversity of species and how we can better achieve balance within our ecosystem.
“We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve, but to strive.” - Aldo Leopold