The Arkansas Forestry Association (AFA) recognized John McAlpine as the
2024 AFA Communicator of the Year at the association’s Annual Meeting held in Hot Springs on October 10.
John F. McAlpine graduated from UAM in May 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry. He is a second-generation forester and grew up on his parents’ Christmas Tree Farm where he helped his father with logging and timber management operations. John began his professional career with Kingwood Forestry Services as a laborer/extra help in January 1998. He now is Manager of the Monticello operations, President of Kingwood Forestry Services, Inc., and a member of the Board of Directors for the company.
Kingwood Forestry Services has 18 full-time employees with three offices.
Kingwood manages approximately 400,000 acres for a variety of landowners, conducts timberland appraisals, and offers timberland brokerage.
AFA Communications Coordinator, Seth Stephenson, presented the award and said McAlpine is always someone the association can count on to further tell forestry’s story.
“John is constantly working with us and other forestry organizations on one project or another,” Stephenson explained. “He understands how important communication is in forestry and strives to make sure landowners, other forestry professionals, and even those outside of our industry know that what we are doing in our forests is done responsibly and sustainably.”
Organized in 1947, AFA is the only private, nonprofit organization representing the entire forestry community in Arkansas. AFA has over 1,200 members who join in AFA’s mission of advocating for the sustainable use and sound stewardship of Arkansas’s forests and related resources to benefit members of the state’s forestry community and all Arkansans today and in the future.
