FOREWORD 



This booklet describes the work of the Alexandria Research 

 Center. The Center is a field unit of the Southern Forest Experiment 

 Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Its special 

 mission is to find practical solutions to the most urgent land-manage- 

 ment problems of the cutover longleaf pine lands west of the Mississippi 

 River (fig. 1). 



The Research Center was established in July 1946. It did not 

 have to start from scratch, however, for it was able to draw on work 

 begun in 1934 by Forest Service technicians stationed in New Orleans. 

 In this early period, Philip C. Wakeley, working at the Stuart Nursery 

 and on the Palustris Experimental Forest, carried out much basic re- 

 search in pine seed processing, nursery practices, and planting. Many 

 of Wakeley 1 s plantations are now being used for studies of thinning 

 methods and other management techniques. In 1944 and 1945, Dr. R. S. 

 Campbell started studies in forest grazing, forest range improvement, 

 and the use of chemicals to control scrub oaks. By 1946, therefore, the 

 Research Center had a very solid foundation on which to base its 

 program. 



The Center's chief field laboratory is the Palustris Experimental 

 Forest, which consists of 7,830 acres in two separate tracts (figs. 26 

 and 27, pp. 48-49). The oldest is the J. K. Johnson Tract, which was 

 established in 1935; it contains 2, 030 acres. The second is the Longleaf 

 Tract, an area of 5, 800 acres dedicated to research in 1950. 



For several years after 1946, the Alexandria Research Center 

 was financed almost entirely by Federal funds. More recently, public 

 agencies, private industries, and individuals have contributed facilities, 

 manpower, and money for cooperative studies. Among the cooperators 

 are: 



Louisiana Forestry Commission 

 Louisiana Forestry Association 

 Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station 

 Kisatchie National Forest 



Soil Conservation Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, U. S. Dept. of the Interior 



