Photo: One of the panels inside the Arkansas Forest Health Research Center at UAM details a timeline of forestry in Arkansas. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Editor’s note: I.C. Murrell of the Pine Bluff Commercial is the author of this story.
Gov. Sarah Sanders, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman and other state leaders helped the University of Arkansas at Monticello open the Arkansas Forest Health Research Center on Friday (Oct. 2).
The $16.8-million center is located next to the Fine Arts Center at the school, which is home to the state’s only college of forestry. In February 2024, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration covered the cost via funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, with state Attorney General Tim Griffin committing another $1 million from state settlement funds and the family of John W. Spivey contributing $400,000 to support the addition of a conference center in his name.
Sanders attended the groundbreaking for the center on Oct. 17, 2024. She said Friday UAM Chancellor Peggy Doss informed her she’s made more official visits to UAM than any other college or university in Arkansas.
“There’s a reason why. UAM’s new facilities are focused on forestry and waterfowl, partnered with their existing resources on programs like nursing and education, are turning this campus into an anchor for the entire region of Arkansas,” Sanders said. “This new forest research center won’t just improve this school; it will drive additional investment into Southeast Arkansas.”
UAM, citing estimates, reports the center will generate a $157 million annual economic benefit to the state by protecting against lost values of trees and forest products and increasing the workforce for forestry, allied health, agriculture, wildlife and related fields.
“(The center) represents an investment in education,” Doss said. “It’s an investment in a workforce development for the region and our state, and it’s an investment in the people of Arkansas and all of our industries, and yes, in the wildlife that depends on all of our forests and wetlands.”
Research is ongoing and conferences have been held at the center with more scheduled in the near future. The Forest Health Research Center tests for forest diseases, invasive insects and climate threats that, according to UAM, threaten a forestry economy valued at $16 billion annually.
Westerman, R-Hot Springs, a forester and engineer whose son and daughter-in-law attended UAM, called trees the kidney of the earth because they give clean water, following a quote from Theodore Roosevelt in which he called trees the lungs of the earth.
“This is an investment in our future, as Chancellor Doss said, but it’s not this building that’s going to steward our forests going forward,” Westerman said. “It’s the people who work in this building, the students who study in this building, and I can tell you this is a great place because it starts with great leadership.”
Michael Blazier, Ph.D., dean of the UAM College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources, said the center was completed on time and on budget. Pine wood from south Arkansas is used in the ceiling, beams and flooring, Blazier said.
“We were talking about what the center could mean for UAM, what it could mean for the Arkansas forestry industry and for the future of the state of Arkansas,” Doss said. “Well today, that future is a reality. This building is finished. The doors are open, and now the real work begins.”
