Forest Description 



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IN THE main the forests of Louisiana are characterized 

 by young stands, three-fitths ot which are of sawlog 

 size and nearly all of which have grown rapidly. 

 Nearly 10 percent ot the area classified as forest land is 

 practically devoid ot forest cover; in this respect no State 

 of the lower South except Florida has a worse situation. 

 Equally significant is the fact that, judged by the number 

 of trees that the soil could profitably support under 

 reasonably good torest management and with prcjtection 

 from forest fires, most ot the torest stands in virtually all 

 forest types and conditions throughout the State are under- 

 stocked. Largely as a result ot repeated fires and past 

 cutting practices, nearly all stands include many cull and 

 defective trees and many trees ot interior species that are 

 not readily marketable. Species tor which markets need 

 to be developed in order that their considerable volume 

 may find profitable use include the post oak (j^uenus 



stellatd) of the uplands and the overcup oak (^. lyrata), 

 water hickory {Carya aqiiaticd), and sugarberry or "hack- 

 berry" {Celtis laevigata) of the bottom lands. 



Forest fires are all too prevalent. In 1940, half a 

 million of the 8/2 million acres ot torest land in the State 

 without organized protection, or 6 percent, is estimated 

 to have been burned over by about 2,000 fires. On the 7/2 

 million acres ot torest land that was under fire protection, 

 more than 3,100 fires, caused chietly by the carelessness 

 ot users of the torest, burned only 129,000 acres, or 1.7 

 percent. 



The forests of Louisiana fall into two general type 

 categories — hardwood forests ot the alluvial flood plains 

 adjacent to the principal streams and pine-hardwood forests 

 ot the uplands (see forest-type map inside rear cover). In 

 the latter category are three distinct type groups, longleaf- 

 slash pines, upland pine-hardwoods, and upland hard- 



State Totol 

 ( I 6.2 rnillion acres ) 



Figure 3. — Forest area of survey units by 

 forest-type groups 1934-35. 



Data for southeast pine 

 included in southiwest pine 



