Researching Bottomland Hardwood
Forest Ecosystems to Preserve
the Mallard Ducks’ Natural Habitat

Listen to our Podcast!

Aaron Jones and Josh Peck of Outdoor Limits sit down and talk with Jeff Watt, Josh Cussimanio, and Jody Pagan of the Osage Basin Wetland Cooperative. Topics covered: wetland management and conservation, moist soil management, top 3 mistakes people make, wetlands restoration, top plants in waterfowl diet, water drawdown, and drainage.

Sitka Scholars

Sitka Scholars

The University of Arkansas at Monticello Graduate Certificate Program in Waterfowl Habitat and Recreation Management Program 2022-2023 Class has been selected. From left to right:

Eli Stinson (Louisiana Tech), Samantha Spaulding (SUNY-Cobleskill), Elijah Wojohn (LSU), Clayton Ernzen (Michigan State)

Congratulations Grads!

Congratulations to the first class of graduates of the University of Arkansas at Monticello Graduate Certificate Program in Waterfowl Habitat and Recreation Management Program. From left to right:

Delanie Warren
Katherine Allen
Brandon Bennett
Cole Howard

Sitka Scholars
Learn More About Sitka
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Research Priorities

Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center will be a leader in the research of bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems using the life history requirements of the mallard duck as indicators of the health of the ecosystem.

Five Oaks Research Priorities
The Center’s
Research Priorities
will include but may not be limited to:
The Center’s
Research Priorities
will include but may not be limited to:
Improving

Improving

Red Oak Health and Root Vigor
Improving

Improving

Red Oak Acorn Production
Increasing

Increasing

Moist Soil Agricultural Production
Increasing

Increasing

The Regeneration
Rate of the Red Oak
Increasing

Increasing

The Survival Rate of Bare Root Seedlings
Improving

Improving

Red Oak Health and Root Vigor
Increasing

Increasing

The Regeneration
Rate of the Red Oak
Improving

Improving

Red Oak Acorn Production
Increasing

Increasing

The Survival Rate of Bare Root Seedlings
Increasing

Increasing

Moist Soil Agricultural
 Production
Learn More
Five Oaks Educational Priorities

Educational Priorities

Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center will offer a unique learning environment for students of forestry, agriculture, and natural resource management. It will also provide opportunities for conservation and wildlife habitat professionals, and private landowners, to observe and understand contemporary science-based methods and University of Arkansas at Monticello strategies for preserving and improving the wetland ecosystem within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Read Assessment Position
Five Oaks Educational Priorities

Educational Priorities

Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center will offer a unique learning environment for students of forestry, agriculture, and natural resource management. It will also provide opportunities for conservation and wildlife habitat professionals, and private landowners, to observe and understand contemporary University of Arkansas at Monticello science-based methods and strategies for preserving and improving the wetland ecosystem within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Learn More
University of Arkansas at Monticello CFANR
Connect with College of Forestry, Agriculture & Natural Resources
Connect with College of Forestry, Agriculture & Natural Resources
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Listen to Postcast
Connect with U of A Division of Agriculture

2021-2022 Inaugural Class

Wetland, wildfowl certificate program draws first class from four states. The students of the 2021-22 inaugural class are Brandon Bennett, Delanie Warren, Katherine Allen, and Cole Howard.

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Five Oaks Binoculars
What’s New
Publications
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eNews
eNEWS =

History of Five Oaks

Five Oaks Duck Lodge, located in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway in Humphrey, Arkansas, was acquired by the Dunklin family in 1983. The entire complex includes more than 6,000 acres of flooded timber and rice fields.

Five Oaks Lodge and the surrounding lands exist in harmony with nature, employing innovative, conscientious land-management practices that promote the health of the land and provide attractive year-round habitat for migratory and wintering waterfowl. Five Oaks owner George H. Dunklin, Jr. and his team have put decades of research and scientific study into the nurturing
relationship between waterfowl and habitat, and the Five Oaks land-management plans have a national reputation for success.

Five Oaks Research Center
Inside Five Oaks Research Center

History of Five Oaks

Five Oaks Duck Lodge, located in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway in Humphrey, Arkansas, was acquired by the Dunklin family in 1983. The entire complex includes more than 6,000 acres of flooded timber and rice fields.

Five Oaks Research Center
Five Oaks Lodge and the surrounding lands exist in harmony with nature, employing innovative, conscientious land-management practices that promote the health of the land and provide attractive year-round habitat for migratory and wintering waterfowl. Five Oaks owner George H. Dunklin, Jr. and his team have put decades of research and scientific study into the nurturing relationship between waterfowl and habitat, and the Five Oaks land-management plans have a national reputation for success.
Inside Five Oaks Research Center
Governing Board
George Dunklin

George Dunklin

Founder and President
FOAgREC Board Member

Dale Hall

Dale Hall

Vice President
FOAgREC Board Member

Ted Dickey

Ted Dickey

Secretary-Treasurer
FOAgREC Board Member

Jody Pagan

Jody Pagan

Chair of
FOAgREC Research Committee

Doug Osbourne, Ph.D

Doug Osborne, Ph.D

Program Director
FOAgREC

The Mississippi Flyway

The Mississippi Flyway
Five Oaks is in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway, which starts in central Canada and stretches to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi Flyway is the name given to the route followed by ducks migrating from their breeding grounds in North America to their wintering grounds in the South. As the name suggests, the Mississippi Flyway follows the route of the Mississippi River in the United States – North America’s largest river system. Originating in northern Minnesota, the slow-flowing river travels southwards for a distance of 2,530 miles, cutting through, or forming a border for, the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana before emptying into the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. In most years, Arkansas winters more mallards than any other place in North America and a whole lot of them return year after year to Five Oaks.
The Mississippi Flyway Mallard Duck
The Mississippi Flyway

Vision and Mission

Vision Statement

Our vision is to sustain the life history requirements of mallard ducks in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley through healthy hardwood stands and other wetland complexes, and consistently offer the nation’s highest quality waterfowl hunting experiences on both private and publicly held properties.

Mission Statement

The mission of Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center is to sustain and increase a vanishing bottomland hardwood forest ecosystem using the life history requirements of the mallard duck as indicators of the health of the ecosystem, and develop scientific professionals and guide public and private forest management to increase this critical wetland ecosystem complex.

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Everything we do today to benefit wetlands and waterfowl is a legacy that we are leaving to our children and grandchildren.

– Dale Hall,
Vice President of FOAgREC and
Former CEO of Ducks Unlimited

”