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.

Fishing 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.

Landowners 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.

In 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.

A 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.

Justin 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.

America'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."