A Brief History of Reforestation and Restoration in Louisiana Randy Rentz Reforestation Branch Chief, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Columbia, LA
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A Brief History of Reforestation and Restoration in Louisiana Randy Rentz Reforestation Branch Chief, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Columbia, LA Abstract impact of $3.0 to $4.0 billion annually, peaking at $5.4 billion in 1998. Total forest landowner income in 2010 was $396.8 Louisiana is rich in culture, politics, and ecosystem diversity, million compared with a high in 1998 of $744.0 million all of which have affected forested timber lands and their (Louisiana Forestry Association 2011). Louisiana’s forests use over time. Landscape diversity and historic land use support approximately 180 primary and 750 secondary wood- changes have also played a significant role in shaping using industries (The Nature Conservancy 2007). The forest Louisiana forests. Native Americans participated in small industry is second only to oil and gas in the State. agriculture production areas and burned areas for clearing, crop production, and wild game pursuit. European settlements Known as the sportsman’s paradise, in part because of the began in the 1700s, and with them came land clearing and diversity of its ecosystems, Louisiana has 12 river basins draining, levee building, and logging. By the 1930s, the State containing a wide variety of bottomland hardwood forests. was almost completely clear-cut. Then, a few forward-looking Among the river basins are rolling hills and bluffs that people introduced forestry and the legislation to support its support upland hardwood-pine forests. These basins and their practice to the State. The works of these leaders—along with watersheds flow to the Gulf of Mexico and make up a system the assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest of Gulf coast marshes and prairies that comprise 40 percent Service; the 1904 establishment of the Louisiana Department of the lower 48 States’ coastal wetlands (USGS 2012). This of Forestry; and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps area includes the great Atchafalaya River basin, one of the last program—eventually changed the face of the Louisiana great bottomland ecosystems. The Mississippi River Alluvial 2 2 timber industry from one of “cut-and-run” practices to one of Valley alone makes up more than 12,000 mi (31,080 ha ) of vibrant, sustainable forests. Today, environmental and man- Louisiana’s surface area (figure 1). made factors threaten millions of acres of forest land. Much work is being done to address these threats, but much still Legend remains to be done. Interstates LA boundary Introduction Cities Louisiana has a very diverse landscape, ranging from the rol- Parish line ling hills in the northwest to the marsh regions of the south. The highest elevation in the State is Driskill Mountain, with an elevation of 535 ft (163 m), and the lowest is 8 ft (2 m) below sea level in New Orleans. Forests are a vital part of Louisiana’s economy and provide material for a thriving woods product industry, as well as for recreation, wildlife, and environmental enhancement. Louisiana’s forests cover 14.0 million ac (5.7 million ha), about 50 percent of the State’s land area. Louisiana has 148,000 forest landowners. Private, nonindustrial landowners own 81 percent of this forest land; the forest products industry owns 10 percent; and the public owns 9 percent (Louisiana Forestry Association Figure 1. State of Louisiana map detailing the urban centers. (Map source: 2011). Trees are Louisiana’s No. 1 crop, with an economic Louisiana Department of Forest and Agriculture, Landsat Image, 2002.) 13 Volume 56, No. 1 (2013) Louisiana’s Forests Marsh), red maple (Acer rubrum L), and several varieties of hickories (Carya spp.). Most of the shortleaf pine in this Louisiana forests are quite diverse because of the nature of region was replaced by loblolly pine (P. taeda L), partly its topography. Its forests are composed of a wide variety of because of loblolly pine’s rapid growth and ability to reseed upland and bottomland hardwood species, along with five on denuded soils, along with extensive replanting efforts of pine species (figures 2 and 3). the 1950s. The southwest and central portions of the State are considered the longleaf belt. In Louisiana, longleaf pine (P. Timber Regions palustris Mill.) historically occurred in the hilly region and on extensive flatland surfaces known as flatwoods. Today, this The northwest corner of the State originally supported area consists of longleaf, slash (P. elliottii var. elliottii Little shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill), a variety of oaks & Dorman), and loblolly pines. The many sloughs within the (Quercus spp.), other hardwood species such as sweetgum flatwoods area contain swamp blackgum (N. biflora Walt), (Liquidambar styracifluaL.), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica water oak (Q. nigra L.), willow oak (Q. phellos L.), red maple, and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh), along Exotic with baldcypress (Taxodium distichum [L.] Rich.) and tupelo hardwood Other 2% Elm-ash- gum (N. aquatica L.) on poorer drained areas. Spruce pine hardwoods cottonwood 1% 9% Nonstocked (P. glabra Walt.) occurs along the streams in the pine hills 2% Oak-gum- and on the higher parts of the Pearl River bottoms, with the cypress Loblolly- 23% most extensive stands occurring in parts of Livingston and shortleaf pine 33% Tangipahoa Parishes (Brown 1945). Bottomland Hardwoods and Cypress Regions The Mississippi River floodplain, as well as the deltas and Longleaf- floodplains of the Pearl, Red, Sabine, and Atchafalaya Rivers, slash pine Oak-hickory and many streams have hardwood forests with large acreages of 6% Oak-pine 16% 8% baldcypress trees. These floodplains consist of lakes, backwater swamps, old stream channels, natural levees, and levee slopes. Figure 2. Relative abundance of Louisiana forest types; loblolly-shortleaf pine dominates with oak-gum-cypress a close second. (Data source: Oswalt and The soil varies from sand to heavy clays. A difference of only Johnson, 2012) a few inches in elevation here is often more influential on the plant community than is a hundred feet in other areas. Baldcypress swamps also contain tupelo gum, swamp red maple (Acer rubrum var. drummondii), green ash, pumpkin Legend ash (Fraxinus profunda Bush), and black willow (Salix nigra Gum/oak/cypress Marsh). Large areas of poorly drained, but a little drier, soil Loblolly-shortleaf Oak/pine/oak/hickory support growth of overcup oak (Quercus lyrata Walt), bitter Longleaf/slash pine Marsh pecan (Carya aquatica [Michx. F.] Nutt.), green ash, willow Prairie oak (Q. phellos L), water oak, and hawthorns (Crataegus spp.). The areas closest to the river channels that receive sand and silts with each flood support growth of cottonwood (Populus deltodides Bartr.), sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.), sweetgum, black willow, hackberry (Celtis laevigata Willd.), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.), and water locust (G. aquatica). The old natural levees support sweetgum, cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.), cow oak (Q. michauxii Nutt.), nuttall oak (Q. taxana Buckley), shumard oak (Q. shumardii Figure 3. Geographic distribution of forest types in Louisiana. (Map source: Buckley), water oak, American elm (Ulmus americana L.), Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, 2002) 14 Tree Planters’ Notes winged elm (U. alata Michx.), pecan (Carya illinoensis U.S. Decennial Census of 1880 estimated that Louisiana [Wangenh.] Koch.), and persimmon (Diospyros virginiana had more than 26.5 billion board feet of longleaf pine and L.). The higher and poorly drained portions of the flood- more than 21.6 billion board feet of shortleaf pine (Burns plain contain willow oak, winged elm, nuttall oak, cedar elm 1968). Before 1880, small-scale lumbering had been confined (U. crassifolia Nutt.), and green ash. to the mouths of a few streambanks and at New Orleans, where logs were floated down the Mississippi and across The margins of old stream courses and meanders of the Lake Pontchartrain (Burns 1968). The first crude sawmill Mississippi River support baldcypress, water locust, and water began production in 1716, and the first mechanized mill was elm. The adjoining natural levees, only a few feet higher, have established between 1803 and 1811 (Burns 1968). An 1809 sweetgum, overcup, bitter pecan, persimmon, hackberry, and newspaper advertisement placed by a steam-powered mill cherrybark oak. In the lower portion of the flood plain south was seeking cypress logs. The 1810 census reported that of Baton Rouge, live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill.) is found Louisiana had only 34 sawmills (Burns 1968). Despite its in areas above the height of normal floods (Brown 1945). continued growth, the New Orleans area reported only 11 Extensive levee building after the great flood of 1927, along sawmills by 1823, a relatively small number for that time with draining of lands for agriculture in the 1800s, shifted (Burns 1968). The lack of fast and convenient transportation the hydrology in many of these areas. These changes in in Louisiana delayed intensive logging for some time. The the landscape also shifted the plant species in the second- 1880 census ranked Louisiana 30th in the Nation in lumber generation bottomland hardwood forest. Many areas once production, with only 175 sawmills (Burns 1968). As northern dominated by nuttall oak, overcup oak, and bitter pecan are forests were depleted and the railroad system was established, now cherrybark oak, willow oak, water oak, and shumard oak. however, lumber companies moved to the South’s plentiful bounty of basically untouched timber lands. Louisiana was Upland Hardwoods favorable because of its easily accessible terrain and large blocks of land available for purchase. Many of the natural upland hardwood sites occur in small Mechanized logging and milling and the desire for large, strips on bluffs above the floodplains. These sites include speedy profits resulted in the clearing of enormous tracts of Chicot State Park, Grand Encore area in Natchitoches, and timber. Railroad spurs and mills dotted the landscape. The life the west bank of the Ouachita River, just north and south of expectancy of these mills, in general, was 20 years or less.