Improved Utilization Needed for Louisiana Bottomland Hardwoods

Inadequate markets for much of the wood grown in the forests of the Louisiana Delta constitute the major handicap to forestry in that region. Other factors, such as the system of farming, the suitability of the soil, and neglect by foresters, have contributed to the slow and uncertain silvicultural development of bottomland hardwoods. Whether or not forestry becomes a land use enterprise of importance in the Louisiana Delta depends upon the financial returns that can be derived from it. The flood plains of the Red and Mississippi Rivers cover 29 percent of the land area of the state; of this land, 64.5 percent is still in woods. Essentially all of the land in the Delta is suitable for cultivation or improved pasture, and this land will be cleared of timber as fast as the water problems can be solved, unless it can be shown that forestry can compete favorably with alternative land uses in producing income. Silvicultural improvements in this area are difficult. Delta hardwood forests must undergo a long period of improvement before production can approach its potential. An appreciable part of the production would even then be in species and classes with little or no value in present markets. Past logging operations have taken out the sound trees of good form of preferred species. Residual stands are composed of defectives, culls, and undesirable species. Wherever a large area has been cleared, vines have rapidly grown into an enveloping mass. If fairly complete utilization of the wood could be developed, as it has been for southern pine, a similar interest could be expected in improving and marketing hardwoods.

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