David Brown-Lincoln County Landowner
When David Brown inherited two-thousand acres of forest in Lincoln County nearly 20 years ago, he says he knew nothing about forestry. He says he traveled to the University of Arkansas at Monticello campus, and one of the professors took him under his arm and helped educate him about his land. Now in 2021, he is returning the favor.
This week, Procurement Forester, Andrew Hilton, a representative of the company that manages Brown’s timberland, Silvicraft Inc, stopped at the university to present UAM College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources student Brett Cunningham with the “Brown and Wild Turkey Timber Scholarship.” Brown says he would have like to meet with Cunningham, but he says Covid-19 has restricted flights. Mr. Brown plans to meet with the Ennis Texas native later this spring when flights return to normal.
Cunningham is a junior at UAM in the College of Forestry, Agriculture & Natural Resources and is majoring in the Forestry option of the Natural Resources Management degree. He says after graduation, he hopes to manage timber properties for production and other wildlife populations. Cunningham said his interest in forestry began when he was a young child. He says a career in forestry will allow him to use his interest in math and problem-solving skills.
Hilton says David Brown and his wife Susan live in Irvine, California. He said, “They are good private landowners interested in giving back.” He says they are interested in finding professionals for the future. Hilton says the Browns are a second-generation landowner soon to be a third. He says they have two sons, Andrew, a California lawyer, and Chris, who works in Washington DC. Hilton says it was Brown’s sons who named the land the Wild Turkey Timber. He says the entire family has the same mentality. They “want to make sure we have people in place to leave the land intact and better than when they found it and manage it and the wildlife.” They believe Cunningham met those standards.
In addition to their forestland, the Browns also operate a rice farm outside Star City. He says he comes to the property nearly a dozen times a year, but because of the pandemic, his visits were limited in 2020-21.
Andrew Hilton is a 2008 graduate of the UAM Forestry program. He received his B. S. in Forestry.
About the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Arkansas Forest Resources Center
The College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, a University of Arkansas System Center of Excellence, bring together interdisciplinary expertise through a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The College and Center are headquartered at the University of Arkansas at Monticello campus, but their programs range statewide with the mission of developing and delivering teaching, research and extension programs that enhance and ensure the sustainability and productivity of forest-based natural resources and agricultural systems. Academic programs are delivered by the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources through the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Through the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, research is administered by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and extension and outreach activities are coordinated by the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
The University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offer all their programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and are Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employers.
