Kisatchie National Forest

Kisatchie National Forest, the only National forest in Louisiana, USA, is located in the forested piney hills and hardwood bottoms of seven central and northern parishes. It is part of the Tertiary uplands (some of Louisiana's oldest rocks) and has large areas of longleaf pine forests (a forest type that has declined significantly over the last century). It is one of the largest pieces of natural landscape in Louisiana, with some 604,000 acres (2,440 km2) of public land, more than half of which is vital longleaf pine and flatwoods vegetation, which support many rare plant and animal species. There are also rare habitats such as hillside seepage bogs and calcareous prairies. The forest also contains and provides a buffer for the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness, a nationally designated wilderness area that contributes to protecting biodiversity of the coastal plain region of the United States.

The forest was designated in 1930 during the administration of U.S. President Herbert Hoover, based on efforts of the Louisiana Forestry Department and its botanist and preservationist Caroline Dormon of Natchitoches Parish.

Kisatchie National Forest plays an important role in protecting representative examples of the landscape of northern Louisiana, particularly those that fall within the South Central Plains Ecoregion. The forest protects habitat for a wide array of plant species including wild orchids and carnivorous plants. Two examples include the Pale pitcher plant and Rose Pogonia orchid. Biologists have found 155 species of breeding or overwintering birds, 48 mammal species, 56 reptile species and 30 amphibian species. Rare animals include the Louisiana pine snake, the Red-cockaded woodpecker, the Louisiana black bear and the Louisiana pearlshell mussel.

The forest also offers recreation activities including: bird watching, photography, backpacking, canoeing, all-terrain vehicle trails, boating, camping, cycling, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, mountain biking, picnicing and swimming. The forest has more than 40 developed recreation sites and over 100 miles (160 km) of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding.

Kisatchie National Forest contains two significant roadless areas: Cunningham Brake and Saline Bayou. Cunningham Brake is a large cypress-tupelo gum swamp that also protects flows in Kisatachie Bayou. Saline Bayou has mixed forests associated with alluvial habitats, ranging from shortleaf pine to tupelo gum. Roads are known to cause significant damage to forests, prairies, streams and wetlands. Roads are particularly harmful to native populations of amphibians and reptiles that migrate to vernal pools. A third large roadless area, the Kisatchie Hills, is protected under a different designation, as a National Wilderness Area. More information of these important areas can be found in one of the most important planning documents for Kisatchie, the Final Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Forest Service in 1999.

Although forests dominate the landscape, scattered prairies can also be found. Natural prairies have been almost extirpated from Louisiana, mostly by clearing for agriculture. Less than a thousand acres of calcareous prairie may remain in the entire state, three pieces of which are associated with Kisatchie: the Kieffer prairie(769 acres), the historic Tancock Prairie (45 acres), and the historic Bartram Prairie (1,190 acres). The latter two are referred to as “historic” because they were known to exist from 1836 survey records but have reverted to forest. So thoroughly have the prairies of North America been cleared that remnants such as these are likely to be of national significance. The restoration of a natural fire regime is the most important priority for maintaining and enhancing these prairies.

The forest is broken into several large pieces, and each piece also is fragmented by private land ownership. Hence, although the headquarters are in Pineville, Kisatchie National Forest has five ranger districts in the north-central area of the state: Calcasieu, Caney, Catahoula, Kisatchie and Winn. The forest lies in parts of seven parishes. In descending order of land area within the forest they are Grant, Natchitoches, Winn, Rapides, Vernon, Claiborne, and Webster parishes.