Sylamore Experimental Forest Research Continues

What kind of foods help deer survive the winter? Do we really need to completely suppress fires in our local forests, or are controlled burns good for the ecosystem? How do the trees and forest species we see today compare to what the forest was like in our grandparents’ time? Is it possible to manage a forest so that you have both good timber for eventual sale, and good game habitat?

These are the kinds of questions that scientists have asked over the years, and answered, at least partly, in the Sylamore Experimental Forest in Stone County.

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture restructured the Forest Service last month, many of the groups that advocate for forests and for conservation expressed concern that the experimental forests would suffer, but the Forest Service, on its website, addresses the concern: “The Forest service is not shutting down any of its experimental forests and ranges. They are important assets to the Forest Service and the broader science community, and research on them will continue. We have proposed to close select facilities at some experimental forests, often facilities that are under-utilized or vacant. The closure of facilities on experimental forests will not affect the ability to conduct research at these locations.”

The research facilities in the Sylamore Experimental Forest have been abandoned for years, but research has continued nonetheless.

The Sylamore Experimental Forest, established in 1934, was the first, and is the largest experimental forest in Arkansas, according to the Forest Service website. The Sylamore Ranger District coordinates management activities in the forest in support of research. Research activities are coordinated by the Southern Research Station in Asheville, N.C.
The site was chosen, according to early researcher J.G. Kuenzel, because it presented a variety of forest conditions typical of the Ozarks.

The age of the experimental forest, as well as the fact that the site was inventoried in 1934 when it was first established, has allowed researchers to do long-term studies that would be difficult to reproduce elsewhere.

Read the full story in the May 13, 2026 issue.