More than a century ago, forestry was a lot different. Many of the old-growth forests were overharvested, leaving open fields with few trees remaining. Then, in 1947, the Louisiana Forestry Association began its efforts to promote reforestation where forests had been clearcut and sustainability once those trees had grown large enough to harvest.
Read MoreLogging is the second largest division in Louisiana’s manufacturing industry, however natural disasters and the pandemic have brought logging in Louisiana to an all-time low.
Logging is Louisiana’s main source of timber, and the industry provides employment to just over 25,000 Louisiana residents, making it one of the largest in the state. However, in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura and the pandemic, rising fuel costs, a diminishing demand and reduced production have all made the industry take a massive hit.
Read MoreFishing spiders, Dolomedes tenebrosus, are venomous, carnivorous and enormous. However, these spiders are not our enemy, and they do not eat our plants. They eat the bugs that do, as well as insects that sting and spread dreaded diseases, like mosquito larvae.
Read MoreLouisiana State Treasurer John Schroder made a stop in Central Louisiana on Thursday, Oct. 27, to promote the Louisiana Loggers Relief Grant Program.
Read MoreLandowners go to forestry meetings and they keep hearing a term used ... “basal area” and they wonder, “What in the world is Basal Area?”
Basal Area, or BA, is a common term used to describe the average amount of an area, commonly an acre, which is occupied by tree stems. In other words, how much of the area of one acre is taken up in trees.
Read MoreThe 2nd Annual Long Leaf Steam Up and Fall Festival kicks off at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning and runs through 10 o’clock tomorrow night. Sunday’s activities get started at 10AM and run through 2 PM.
Read MoreTechnology has aided forestry for years, especially when performing prescribed burning to keep fuels on forest floors from building up to dangerous levels. Now, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is using technology of unmanned aircraft in hopes to save lives during those operations.
Read MoreThe U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, awarded Strategic Biofuels a cooperative agreement under its Wood Innovations Program for the first phase of a multiphase project to develop a robust, auditable cloud-based system for demonstrating compliance of forestry feedstock with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Strategic Biofuels is the leader in developing negative carbon footprint renewable fuels production facilities.
Read MoreDid you know there’s wood cellulose in your ice cream? Or that those pretty purple berries are on a shrub called American beautyberry? And no, the berries are not edible.
These are just a few of the things over 700 fifth-graders from around Rapides Parish learned at Forest Awareness Week held at Indian Creek Recreation Area this week.
Read MoreIn response to litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed today to protect 209,520 acres of critical habitat for the Louisiana pinesnake in central Louisiana and east Texas.
The pinesnake has disappeared from most of its range as open, old-growth longleaf pine forests have been lost to logging and development.
Read MoreA free Forestry Wildlife Field Day is scheduled for October 14 at 232 Brooks Road near Choudrant to give forest landowners an opportunity to meet foresters, and learn about forest health, managing forestland for wildlife, harvesting, and more.
Read MoreThe West Louisiana Forestry Festival will be kicking off on Oct. 5, 2022.
The festival will run through Oct. 9.
Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for students. Kids 5 and under as well as law enforcement, first responders, and active military as well as their families will be admitted for free.
Read MoreJustin Kossman, a natural resource conservation management senior at McNeese State University, received real-world experience this summer through an internship with the Louisiana Ecological Forestry (LEAF) Center at Hodges Gardens in Florien that will make him first choice for employers after graduation.
Read MoreAmerica's fifth largest corrugated packaging company welcomed Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards to their facility in northwest Louisiana Monday morning.
"We're honored to have Governor John Bel Edwards here with us today," said Anthony Pratt, Executive Chairman of Pratt Industries. "His economic leadership of Louisiana is characteristic of the reason that Pratt Industries has invested $250 million in the great state of Louisiana."
Read MoreOn October 7th, 2022, mano-Y-ola will host the 4th Annual Hispanic Farmers and Agricultural Professionals Symposium with 2022’s focus, Climate-Smart Agriculture and Equity. These annual symposia seek to celebrate the Hispanic agricultural legacy in the United States and to provide a platform for Hispanics in agriculture to connect with other farmers, professionals, and opportunities, using the virtual platform developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to reach an even wider audience.
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