LOUISIANA 153 



LOUISIANA 



Division of Forester, Department of Conservation, created 1904, 



effective 1918; reenacted, 1922. 

 V. H. Sonderegger, Superintendent of Forestry, New Orleans, 



Louisiana. 



Land Area of State. 29,061,760 acres. 



Original Forested Area. 22,000,000 acres pine and hardwoods. 



Present Forest Area. 3,600,000 acres. 



Idle or Unproductive Forest Land. 13,600,000 acres. 



Timber Stand. 30,000,000,000 board feet, virgin and second growth. 



State Forests. 2200 acres. 



National Forests within State. None. 



Other Publicly-owned Forest Area. 60,000 acres public shooting ground; 

 300,000 acres bird sanctuaries. Mostly marsh lands. 



Average Annual Lumber Production. 3,000,000,000 board feet. 



Average Annual Consumption. Unavailable. 



Last Annual Appropriation for Forestry. $60,000. 



Forest Fire Laws. Fire prevention 75 per cent, of Louisiana's problem. 

 Meeting issue by education and by a district patrol system. Twentv 

 permanent men and about 12$ during danger season. Cooperation with 

 landowners during hazard period. Laws provide penalties for wilful and 

 negligent setting of fires. Require spark arresters for locomotives, logging 

 engines, etc. Require railroads to keep rights of way clear of combustible 

 material, Cooperate under Weeks Law. Spend about $270,000 by all 

 agencies to protect about 16,000,000 acres. Two lookout towers. 



Forest Taxation Laws. Special law providing for contract between timber- 

 land owners and state, setting lower assessment of lands growing timber. 

 (This law treated at greater length under " Forest Taxation.") 



Nurseries. Some nursery work at the State Forest at Woodworth and in 

 cooperation with the Great Southern Lumber Company at Bogalusa and 

 the Urania Lumber Company at Urania. 



Other Activities of State. Assistance given farmers and small landowners bv 

 Farm Forester, E. S. Moncrief . Services free. Boys' forestry clubs carry on 

 protective and reforestation work under farm forester. More than a dozen 

 Boy Scout troops practising forestry. Forestry taught in schools. Superin- 

 tendent of Education to install forestry textbooks in the fall of 1924 for 

 all grades in public schools. Speeches before civic clubs. Summer Forest 

 Camp maintained through cooperation of Division and State University 

 to train men for forestry work. Exhibits maintained. Cooperate with 

 U. S. Forest Experiment Station at New Orleans. Assistance to lumbermen 

 and landowners in developing efficient logging operations and closer utiliza- 

 tion of waste products. Lumber companies doing research and reforestation. 



