Global conservation

Supporting Arkansas’ largest industries and protecting the environment are often symbiotic. Sustainable use of natural resources, like forests and waterways, ensures both their longevity and that consumer needs are met.

In forestry, the industry is uniquely balanced to provide essential timber products while also maintaining our forests. In the case of fishing, obeying angling guidelines is essential to ensure the health of fish populations and support growth within the fishing sector, providing sustenance, economic options, and industrial stability. However, it’s important that these same protections exist outside the United States as well, and international conservation work is critical in ensuring that foreign producers follow similar sustainability standards as we do here.

In 1972, my father founded Neeley Forestry, and we have since grown into a family forestry business that services 400 clients and spans 20,000 acres across three states. I know how important it is that we get a fair market price for our products, but illegal and unregulated logging operations overseas can drive down global prices for timber products and harm legal businesses like ours. Illegal logging and fishing practices also often result in environmental degradation, endangering both the communities on which they rely and the health of our planet.

What happens overseas affects not only our environment but the livelihood of a number of industries here in Arkansas and families that depend on them. Now, more than ever, it is crucial that our congressional leaders support efforts to invest in international conservation work to stamp out illegal resource exploitation, overfishing, and environmental degradation abroad.

JD NEELEY Camden