An Ecological Assessment of the Louisiana Tensas River Basin Chapter 3 
Wetland Restoration Analysis 
Restoration of wetlands and associated processes is a 
primary objective of many of the stakeholders in the 
Tensas River Basin. As a result, the Tensas River Basin 
has been the focus of many environmental studies which 
provide many types of data to continue our analysis. Many 
GIS coverages are readily available from groups involved in 
previous and ongoing studies. These resources provided 
the opportunity to use this data along with the forest 
change data to evaluate potential wetland restoration. One 
of the GIS databases available covers all the areas which 
are a part of the Louisiana Private Lands Restoration - 
Wetland Reserve Program. These are areas where land 
owners have changed land use from agriculture back to 
forests. Figure 3.23a shows restoration efforts that have 
been taking place over the past 5 years around the Tensas 
River Basin. This image shows that the areas previously 
selected for forest restoration were suitable in terms of 
restoring forests along riparian areas and connecting 
existing forests. Figure 3.23b is a view of the forest 
change, wetland restoration sites and streams to better 
show how the forest restoration sites are suitable in terms 
of restoring forest along riparian areas and connecting 
existing forests. 
Displaying GIS databases and remote sensing data 
together can visually give land managers more information 
about soils, flood potential, and other types of features to 
help make the best choices for restoration. 
Figure 3.23a 
Wetland Reserve Program (WRP). 
Remote Sensing Image 
