This is the eighteenth diary in my 'Expanding the National Parks' series. The Previous diaries in the Series are Below
1.Alabama
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2 Alaska
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3 Arizona
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4 Arkansas
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5 California
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6 Colorado
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7 Connecticut
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8 Delaware
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9 Florida
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10 Georgia
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11 Hawaii
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12 Idaho
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13 Illinois
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14 Indiana
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15 Iowa
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16 Kansas
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17 Kentucky
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This week I'm in Louisiana, chasing after the famous bear Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot. Louisiana currently has 1 national monument, 1 national forest, 24 wildlife refuges, and 4 historic sites. Louisiana has 5.1% of its land owned by the feds, good for 27th in the country. I will be proposing adding more monuments to Louisiana's tally.
This is the eighteenth diary in my 'Expanding the National Parks' series. This week I'm in Louisiana, chasing after the famous bear Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot. Louisiana currently has 1 national monument, 1 national forest, 24 wildlife refuges, and 4 historic sites. Louisiana has 5.1% of its land owned by the feds, good for 27th in the country. I will be proposing adding more monuments to Louisiana's tally.
Louisiana
Total Area 51 843 sq miles
Land Area 43 204 sq miles
Water Area 8 639 sq miles
Coastline 397 miles
Additional monuments-4
ADDITIONAL MONUMENTS-4
* Louisiana Coastal would set aside the coastal waters of Louisiana up to 20 miles from shore and include open lands up to 10 miles inland. this would incorporate existing island refuges and protect the area from oil and gas development.Estimated area 7600000 acres- roughly 12000 miles or 6 times the size of Delaware
* Tensas Would upgrade the existing refuge to monument status.the refuge was the location of the famous bear hunt by President Teddy Roosevelt which resulted in the creation of the teddy bear. efforts were made in the 1930s to create a national park in the area, before congress finally set aside the area as a refuge in 1998. estimated area 70000 acres- roughly 100 miles
* Gulf Islands would incorporate Breton WR into the existing Gulf Islands NS as an expansion, and upgrade it to a monument. Breton is one of the oldest wildlife refuges in the system and deserves monument status. Estimated area 200000 acres - roughly 300 miles(including areas in AL, FL, LA and MS)
* Jean Lafitte reclassifies the existing historic site as a monument, which includes the site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, which came after the treaty of Ghent that ended the war of 1812 but was hailed as a great American victory and propelled Andrew Jackson to national fame. Estimated area 20000 acres
EXISTING UNITS
NATIONAL MONUMENTS-1
* Poverty Point Established 1988 Covers 911 acres
Protects the site of the largest known earthworks of the Poverty Point Culture, where indigenous people built earthen mounds dating between 2200 and 700 BC. spread out among the eastern part of the US. The mounds at Poverty Point date from between 1600 and 700 BC.Named after a plantation that was nearby, Poverty Point is made up of 6 mounds , including one (Mound A) that is one of the largest earthwork mounds by volume in the eastern US. whether Poverty Point served as a settlement, trading center or served as a ceremonial sites is still debated by archeologists.it was first proposed as a monument in 1960, and much of the current land making up the monument was bought by Louisiana in 1972. poverty point is currently being considered as a World Heritage site.
NATIONAL FORESTS-1
* Kisatchie Established 1930 Covers 604000 acres
The only NF in the state, Kisatchie was set aside under President Hoover and is divided into 5 districts (Calcasieu, Caney, Catahoula,Kisatchie and Winn) spread out in northern and central Louisiana. it is the largest existing area of public land in the state.
WILDLIFE REFUGES-24
* Atchafalaya Established 1986 Covers 15220 acres
Established in 1986, the refuge, which means "long river' in Choctaw, protected part of the largest bottomland hardwood swamp in the country, the Atchafalaya River basin, which cover 1 million acres and makes u[p the southern end of the Mississippi Flyway. the refuge is managed by the Louisiana Depaartnent of Wildlife and Fisheries under an agreement with the FWS. efforts are being made to expand the refuge to protect more of the swamp. 45000 people visited the refuge last year.
* Bayou Cocodrie Established 1992 Covers 13200 acres
containing some of the last intact bottomland hardwood forest that once stretched from Louisiana to Illinois, the refuge is named after the Bayou Cococodrie River,which is listed as a 'Scenic River' on the state level. the Louisiana black bear, which is a federally threatened species, lives in the refuge. the refuge doesn't get many visitors, less than 6000 visited last year.
* Bayou Sauvage Established 1990 Covers 22770 acres
Located inside the city Limits of New Orleans, the refuge is surrounded by hurricane protection levees, as the area was originally planned to a development, called as various times 'Ponchartrain' and 'New Orleans East', and even includes three interchanges, of which two were never used and stand as 'ghost exits' today.resident animals in the refuge include brown pelicans, white pelicans and bald eagles.400000 people visit the area annually.
* Bayou Teche Established 2001 Covers 9028 acres
Located nearly 110 miles from New Oerleabs, the refuge is a sanctuary for the Louisiana black bear, and which is surrounded by oil and gas well and other development. it the only refuge designated specifically to protect the brown bear, and 6000 people visit annually.
* Big Branch Marsh Established 2001 Covers 17094 acres
Located on Lake Pontchartrain, the refuge protects the last undeveloped shoreline on the lake, and provides habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker and other endangered species and is located on the northern side of the lake. the refuge was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina and recovery is ongoing. 24000 people visited in 2006.
* Black Bayou Lake Established 1997 Covers 4200 acres
Owned by the city of Monroe, the refuge surrounds Black Bayou Lake and protects the waters and wildlife that depend on it. the refuge is being expanded to 6000 aces (its approved boundary). 38000 people visit every year.
* Bogue Chitto Established 1980 Covers 40000 acres (in LA and MS)
The only refuge in the state that stretches into another state, Bogue Chitto was set aside by President Carter. Bogue Chitto means "large stream" in Choctaw. the approved boundary for the refuge is nearly 50000 acres. most of the land lies in Louisiana. and it often floods when the rivers reach their high water marks in the spring.
* Breton Established 1904 Covers 13000 acres
The second-oldest wildlife refuge in the country (behind Pelican Island in FL), Breton is the only refuge Roosevelt actually visited (he visited in 1915, four years before his death). Virtually all of the islands in the refuge were classed as wilderness in 1975, with the exception of North Breton Island. The islands are the remnant of a former dekta that existed 2000 years ago, and their size and shape change from year to year. the refuge was hit hard by Katrina in 2005, losing almost two-thirds of its land area. 3000 people visited the refuge in 2012.
* Cameron Prairie Established 1986 Covers 9621 acres
Part of the Southwest Louisiana WR Complex (along with Lacassine, Sabine and shell Keys), the refuge sees nearly 50000 ducks and 10000 geese annually and sits at the convergence of two major flyways. nearly 30000 people visit every year.
* Cat Island Established 2000 Covers 9623 acres
Located on the southern end of the Mississippi River, Cat island protects some of the last remaining old growth baldcypress trees in the state,many of which are over 500 years old, and including the National Champion cypress which is the largest tree of any species east of the Mississippi. the refuge has an approved boundary of 36000 acres, so the refuge will expand in the coming years.due to regular flooding, the refuge is closed most of the year.
* Catahoula Established 1958 Covers 25162 acres
Divided into two districts, the Bushley Bayou and Headquarters, the refuge is named after the lake that borders the Headquarters unit which is listed as a Ramsar Wetland. The Refuge itself was listed as a Globally Important Bird area in 2001. 40000 people visit the refuge every year.
* D'Arbonne Established 1975 Covers 17419 acres
Surrounds Bayou D'Arbonne, and is part of the North Louisiana Refuges Complex, along with Black Bayou Lake, Handy Brake and Upper Ouachita. the refuge is full of creeks, lakes and oxbows. Most of the refuge is flooded in the spring, yet draws 25000 visitors a year.
* Delta Established 1935 Covers 49000 acres
The third oldest (behind Breton and Shell Keys0 And third largest( Behind Sabine and Tensas River) refuge in the state, Delta is located at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and provides sanctuary for large numbers of fish and birds. it suffered a direct hit from Katrina and recovery has been slow. 9000 people visited the refuge last year.
* East Cove established 1937 Covers 14927 acres
Managed by Cameron Prairie WR, East Cove is one of a number of refuges only accessible by boat. only 8000 visitors visited the refuge last year which is home to fish, birds and crabs.
* Grand Cote Established 1989 Covers 6077 acres
Located on the Central and Mississippi Flyways, the refuge was once hardwood bottomland forest but was cleared for agriculture in the 1970s, and is slowly returning to its previous state due to reforestation efforts.
* Handy Brake Established 1988 Covers 501 acres
Managed from D'Arbonne WR Handy Brake was set aside for conserving bottomland hardwood forest and providing habitat for local wildlife.It is the smallest refuge in the state by a wide margin, no other refuge is smaller than 4000 acres. The Refuge gets roughly 4000 visitors every year.
* Lacassine Established 1937 covers 35000 acres
Set aside by President roosevelt during the Depression, Lacassine is one of the largest WR in Louisiana, and is one of a few WRs in the state to have a wilderness area (Lacassine's covers nearly 3500 acres or 10% of the refuges area). The refuge supports some of the largest numbers of wintering waterfowl in the Wildlife Refuge System,with hundreds opf thousands of ducks and geese regularly staying in the refuges boundaries, with peaks of nearly 1 million. Near;y 40000 visitors visit the refuge every year.
* Lake Ophelia Established 1988 Covers 17500 acres
Named after Lake Ophelia , a small lake in the refuge that was once part of the Red river, the refuge used to be part of a large bottomland hardwood forest that stretched to Illinois, but was cleared for agriculture in the 1970s. the refuge is slowly being restored to its previous state, 25000 people visited the refuuge in 2004.
* Mandalay Established 1996 Covers 4619 acres
One of the smallest refuges in the state, Mandalay is made up mostly of marsh and swamp, making walking in the refuge very difficult, and is home to alligators bald eagles and ducks. the refuge is surrounded by oil fields and wells. 18000 people visit every year.
* Red River Established 2001 Covers 6000 acres
Located oin the northwestern part of the state, the Red river is split into 5 units(Bayou Pierre,Headquarters, Lower Cane River, Spanish Lake and Wardview) and will eventually cover 50000 acres stretching to the border with Arkansas. the area was set aside to preserve and protect native plants and provide habitat for native animals.
* Sabine Established 1937 Covers 124511 acres
By far the largest refuge in the state(nearly twice the size of the second-biggest Tensas River), and the biggest refuge on the Gulf Coast, Sabine stretches from the Texas border to Calcasieu Lake in the east. the refuge was hit hard by Hurricane Rita in 2005 but the refuge has since recovered. roughly 300000 visitiors visit the refuge every year.
* Shell Keys Established 1907 Covers 15000 acres
One of the oldest refuges in the system, and the second oldest in the state, Shell Keys used to be a group of small islands when it was first set aside, but due to changes in the coastline and erosion caused by hurricanes and other storms, there currently is only one small island in the location of the refuge, the rest of the refuges area is the waters surrounding the island. due to its remote location , visits by visitors are strictly limited.
* Tensas River Established 1980 Covers 64 012 acres
the second largest refuge in the state. Tensas river is the site president theodore Roosevelt went bear hunting in 1907, and inadvertently led to the creation of the famous teddy bear toy. efforts to preserve the area were started in the 30s to create a national park in the area. while those efforts never came to fruition, Congress eventually protected the area as a refuge. the refuge contains the largest number of Louisiana black bears in the state, as well as 400 different species of animals. 72000 people visited in 2005.
* Upper Ouachita Established 1978 Covers 41430 acres
Located on the Ouchita River (and thus subject to spring floods), the refuge consists of mostly bottomland hardwood forest, and is home to thousands of ducks and geese. 23000 people visited the refuge in 2005.
HISTORIC SITES AND OTHER NPS UNITS-4
* Cane River Creole NHP Established 1994 Covers 207 acres
Protects structures located on two plantations-Magnolia and Oakland_ that are examples of French and Creole architecture. both plantations were damaged during the Red river Campaign during the Civil War, the main house at Magnolia was completely destroyed but was rebuilt after the war. Efforts are ongoing to restore the structures, which were in a state of disrepair when the NPS bought the properties in 1994. Nearly 27000 people visited the park in 2011.
* Flower Garden Banks NMS Established 1992 covers 57600 acres
this area became the 10th marine sanctuary in the system under President George HW Bush. the sanctuary contains three reefs, which provides a home for coral, sponges fish and crustaceans.
* Jean Lafitte NHP and Preserve Established 1907 Covers 20020 acres
preserves the site of the battle of New Orleans and is named after French pirate Jean Lafitte who assisted Andrew Jackson in the battle. the park consists of 6 units, three dealing with the Acadian culture, the Chalmette battlefield and national Cemetery (which was designated as a monument in 1907 and incorporated into the historic park in 1978),the Barataria preserve, and the French quarter.over 400000 people visited the park in 2011.
* New Orleans Jazz NHP Established 1994 Covers 4 acres
Preserves information and resources connected with the founding and establishment of jazz in New Orleans. the land in the park is part of Louis Armstrong park named after the famous jazz musician. over 130000 people visited the park in 2011.
And thus concludes my time in Louisiana. Next week I'll be finishing the Appalachian Trail and checking out the lighthouses in Maine. as always, Comments , input and feedback are welcome.