Honoring Jack

Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
Photo by Jack D. Culpepper


Jack D. Culpepper

March 2, 1959 - April 21, 2018


Eulogy
by J.D. Bricken
Wildlife Refuge Manager
Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge



Jack the Forester

Jack served as the forester for Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge and Pee Dee National WildlifeRefuge, and I had the opportunity to work with him for 11 years. Jack loved his job. Not only did he care about the forest as a whole, but he seemed to care about each tree. He oversaw the timber harvest of thousands of acres at the Sandhills refuge and hundreds of acres at the Pee Dee refuge. His strategy for thinning timber was always based on the overall health of the forest and improving the habitat for wildlife. 
photo credit: unknown

Jack the Forest Ecologist

photo by Cliff Berger/USFWS
When Jack first came to help at Pee Dee NWR, we were eager to harvest several tracts of timber. My strategy, as a manager with a limited budget and always being shorthanded, was to harvest as much as I could, as fast as I could, while I had the help. I was always living for the moment with never a guarantee of future funding. Well, Jack showed up and wanted to go over the timber harvest with a fine-tooth comb. He wanted to study the ecology of each stand. I thought, “oh know, this is gonna take forever.” Then he started discovering rare plants and a combination of trees that seemed out of place. We brought in some experts from the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program. Together, thanks to Jack, we discovered the remnants of a Wet Piedmont Longleaf Habitat. We are all familiar with individual rare and endangered animal species. This type of forest qualified as an S1G1 habitat. S1 indicates the rarest statewide and G1 indicates the rarest globally. Jack's research from this discovery was published in the Natural Areas Journal in October 2017. This recognition led to the establishment of an approximately 800-acre Natural Heritage Site. 

 Even after his careful evaluation and planning, Jack still met all of our harvest goals.

Jack the Forest Historian

photo credit: Cliff Berger/USFWS
I remember when Jack found three old stumps from a tract of timber that was originally harvested about 90 years ago. He explained that the waist-high stumps were left over from the two-man handsaw days. At Jack's urging, I dug those stumps up with a backhoe and crosscut the base. From that, Jack was able to determine the age of the trees at the time they were harvested. The oldest tree was 270 years old. By adding the 90 years to the 270 years-old stump, Jack was able to prove that longleaf pine were present in that forest 360 years ago. This information was important to Jack because he wanted to emulate the forest that had historically occurred on that site.

Jack the Professor

photo credit: Cliff Berger/USFWS
Over the years, dozens of college interns came through Jack’s forestry programs at Sandhills and Pee Dee NWRs. Not only could Jack describe the complexities of the forest, he took the time to point out simple things that might be overlooked. I remember a dead tree with one limb way up high. Jack called the kids over and asked, “now, why should we save this tree?” No one answered. Jack pointed out that the dead tree with its high limb provided a perfect perch for a hawk to hunt from. Jack loved working with these college students and seemed to be the happiest when he would surprise them with a cold watermelon and slice it up to enjoy with the students. 


Jack the Friend

photo credit: Cliff Berger/USFWS
Jack and I were the same age and liked a lot of the same outdoor type things. He was always in a good mood when he was reminiscing about his childhood days in the country. We spent many hours walking through the woods, planning timber strategies, and talking about everyday life. He was always a good listener and provided a lot of encouragement when things weren't going that great.

Jack the Christian

About two years ago I learned of Jack's faith in Jesus Christ and how he relied on God's guidance. I had taught Sunday School for years and thought I knew a little about the Bible. One day Jack and I started talking about different Bible verses and what they meant to us. Jack always seemed to know a little more than me about forestry, but I thought, surely I'll have the edge on this topic. Wrong. Jack could quote scripture and seemed to have a well thought-out understanding of what it meant to him. Still, Jack always seemed interested in my interpretation, and we had several discussions about biblical passages. 

 Just a few weeks ago, Jack sent me a personal email from his home computer entitled “Decisions.” Jack said he only wanted to do what God wanted in his work. He would find God’s peace and confidence in all decisions whenever he was properly centered in His will. He included a Bible verse from Hebrews 11:6. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”


photo credit: Cliff Berger/USFWS






Comments

  1. Lyne AskinsMay 16, 2018 at 6:06 PM

    Thank you for sharing, Pat. JD's words then (and now) are the perfect description of your brother. I am so glad you shared this. He is greatly missed. Lyne

    ReplyDelete

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