Wildland Fire

Vegetation at Arkansas Post is managed with a prescribed fire.

NPS Photo

Fire in the Delta!

Located in the Lower Mississippi Riverine Forest ecoregion, Arkansas Post includes 255 acres of prairie and forests and 54 acres of landscaped grounds. The area is in the Delta Region of south-eastern Arkansas.

Arkansas Post does not experience many wildland fires, but fire’s role in this ecosystem is still ecologically important today. When fire managers conduct prescribed fires, their goal is to maintain and replicate the role of historical fire in the ecosystem.

 

A view from under the canopy of Arkansas Post's hardwood forest, looking out over the aquatic plants towards the Arkansas River.

NPS Photo

Fire Ecology of Arkansas Post

Prescribed fires are a part of the process to remove invasive plants from the ecosystem. They are a key in the maintenance of native plant communities and wildlife habitats.

When a group of plants lives in the same area, they are classified as a vegetative community. Arkansas Post’s vegetative communities include:

• Terrace hardwoods: elm, ash, cottonwood
• Bottomland hardwoods: hackberry, sweetgum, cedar, oak
• Open prairie (tallgrass prairie): prairie fleabane, prairie rose, smooth violet prairie aster
• Former agricultural fields (old-field succession): sawtooth blackberry, sugarberry, honeylocust
• Aquatic communities: bald cypress, water tupelo, American lotus

There are many types of plants that have been introduced to the region. They arrived, either by accident, or through farming and decorative landscaping over the last 300 years. These plants are non-native, and some of them can have a negative impact on the native plant species. Some non-native, or exotic, plants can out-compete native plants for resources like water, light, food and space to grow. Examples of these invasive plants are:

• Trifoliate orange

• Common privet

• Chinese privet

• Japanese honeysuckle

• Canada thistle