cause of the immaturity of its growing stock, or 

 because of the shortage of high-grade material in 

 the stand. Parts of this area must have tree growth 

 for several decades before they can be classified as 

 commercial forest, though other parts are only a few 

 years removed from such classification. On the 

 other hand, extensive use of timber of lower qual- 

 ity, brought about either by changes in the manu- 

 facturing practices of existing industries or by the 

 introduction of new industries, is all that is required 

 to make still other areas commercial. The situa- 

 tion in the noncommercial area as a whole, there- 

 fore, requires the carrying of these stands for a 

 period of years before they can be commercially 

 utilized. Obviously, the growing stock on this 80 

 percent of the forest area is the basis from which 

 the future timber supply of the unit must develop. 

 Therefore, even though future changes in hard- 

 wood utilization practices may make possible har- 

 vest cuttings in these stands, the volume cut from 

 them should be kept well below their growth until 

 the growing stock is built up. 



Any action that is taken to improve the density 

 and growing conditions of these stands will be re- 

 flected in increased volume yield and improved 

 quality of output. Two measures are particularly 

 needful — protection from fire and removal of poor 

 and surplus stems. A greater annual increment 

 of high-quality material than is found under pre- 

 vailing conditions will be brought about both by 

 freedom from periodic burning in the growing 

 stands, which are particularly susceptible to fire, 

 and by removal from these stands of the many 

 cull and surplus trees that occupy growing space 

 or impede the development of the more valuable 

 trees. 



Some stands, even under present conditions, 

 fully justify the expense involved in sanitation cut- 

 tings to remove the cull and defective trees, even 

 though it may be impossible to recover the cos 

 of the work through sale of material. Widespread 

 application of sanitation measures, however, will 

 probably depend upon the development of markets 

 for the materials removed, so that receipts thus 

 obtained will defray all or part of the cost of re- 

 moval. The annual requirement for fuel wood 

 and wood for domestic use from the forests of this 

 unit is approximately 270,000 cords. At present, 

 more than half of this is taken from the good 

 growing stock. If all of this wood were taken from 



the inferior and cull trees, the drain against present 

 and potential saw-timber material would be de- 

 creased and a considerable forest area would be 

 improved through sanitation cuttings. The intro- 

 duction of the hardwood distillation and pulp in- 

 dustries would increase the outlet for such material. 



General Recommendations 



If the entire commercial forest area were given 

 the full treatment recommended above, and if the 

 entire noncommercial area were given the treat- 

 ment necessary to bring it up to full producing 

 capacity, it is possible that 50 to 60 years of such 

 treatment would increase the annual increment in 

 the north-Louisiana delta from its present 210 

 million board feet to about 800 million board feet, 

 which is an approximate limit. That this limit 

 ever will be actually attained is, of course, highly 

 improbable. Its attainment would involve not 

 only the revolutionizing of industrial practices 

 and requirements but also the sustained uniform 

 application of skillful forest management by 

 approximately 10,000 landowners on holdings 

 ranging from a few acres to more than a hundred 

 thousand. 



In this survey unit high land taxes, based to a 

 considerable extent on speculative agricultural 

 values, tend to discourage long-time private owner- 

 ship and management of land for forest purposes. 

 Where taxes are low or nominal, as on the batture 

 or on large areas set aside for flood control, large- 

 scale private ownership of forest land may be ex- 

 pected to continue. Elsewhere private ownership 

 on a permanent basis is likely to persist mainly on a 

 relatively small scale, incidental to plantations or 

 other multiple-use land-management enterprises. 

 Taxes on forest land must be not only reduced but 

 also stabilized if the practice of forestry is to be 

 encouraged on private timberlands. There are in 

 this unit large areas which, because of their loca- 

 tion in water-logged territory, are at the lower end 

 of the scale of forest productivity and which will 

 eventually be abandoned if taxes are not held to a 

 minimum. The backwater areas tributary to the 

 Red River in Concordia and Catahoula Parishes 

 and the overflow areas in the Boeuf and La Fourche 

 Basins are notable examples. These lands are al- 

 ready reverting to public ownership for nonpay- 

 ment of taxes. LInless oil or some other subsurface 



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