By SHERRI TAYLOR
Journal News Editor

Running out of trees, are we? As the enviro-spooks would try to convince you, every time a tree is cut, we are nearer to The End. Vast expanses of the landscape forever leveled down to bare dirt. The atmosphere straining to hold its oxygen. Loggers complicit in the slaughter of Living Things. True? Walk with us.

Over sand hills and through mud puddles ankle deep and 20 feet wide, men with double-pouched backpacks filled with nearly one hundred pounds of pine seedlings marched on Friday, February 13, as they had for over a month, placing seedlings in the ground by hand, planting pines and establishing future forests. These men are typical of thousands of others who go through the same process year after year, planting and replanting forests on land owned by timberland companies, private, non-industrial landowners, and government agencies.

The planting crew, contracted by Smurfit-Stone Corporation's Hodge, Louisiana forestry division from Superior Forestry of Arkansas, one of the major reforestation companies, walks over sand hills just off Highway 156 in Jackson Parish, Louisiana under clouded, rain threatening skies on a cold, dreary Friday in February. They place about 700 trees in the ground per acre, walking in straight lines, parallel to each other, crossing old, grown-over roads, planting rows 10 feet wide even there.

Eliezer Sarabia Sarabia, a member of the all-Mexican contract planting crew, unloads more seedlings from the truck, waiting for workers to come back and refill their back packs before trudging off once more to plant.

Across the United States, as many as 1.7 billion seedlings were planted in 1999 alone and the figures go up each year. That number represents 4.8 million trees planted each day. That's six trees for every man woman and child in the country.

The Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI) was adopted in 1997 by a consortium of American forest products manufacturers and landowners. The Initiative commits participating private and commercial landowners, among other practices, to the reseeding of any clear-cut area either by seeding within two years or by natural regeneration in five years. The practice assures the nation of a perpetual supply of trees even as the forests are harvested regularly.

SFI also provides standards for logging practices, erosion prevention, protection of habitat for wildlife and endangered species, and forestry aesthetics. Compliance to SFI standards are documented and certified by outside teams of forest and environmental experts, and accountants. This allows the public to see exactly what forest practices companies like Smurfit-Stone, Weyerhaeuser, Plum Creek Timber Co., and others are using to protect forests in Louisiana and across the nation, alleviating concerns that the forests are diminishing.

Trees are the life blood of central Louisiana, a sustainable resource that is vital to the local economy and fills pockets on pay day. Commercial forests occupy more than 13.8 million acres of land in Louisiana (that's 49% of total land area) with 64% held by non-industrial private owners, 26% by forest industry, and 10% by public agencies.

"That means we have about 148,000 individuals who own timber land in this state," said Clyde Todd, Forestry Issues Coordinator for the Louisiana Forestry Association.

In order to maintain healthy forests, forest industries take time during the winter months to replant what they have taken out, setting seedlings that will grow to tall pine forests and begin the cycle of forest sustainability once more. This reforestation after harvest has become the cornerstone of Southern forest management programs for corporate, private, and government landowners.

The Louisiana Forestry Association estimates that around 128 million seedlings are planted in this state each year. That's 410 trees per day and 29 trees planted for each man, woman, and child in the state. Almost 55,000 acres a year are converted from farmland to pine trees. The usual planting is 700 trees per acre but varies by company policy.

Planting season runs from November to March in Louisiana. "March 15 is the deadline for planting trees here," stated Dorothy Bosch of Bosch Nursery in Jonesboro. That's why companies as well as individuals start planting early.

"Sometimes the seedlings will turn brown right after planting," said Mrs. Bosch. She explained that was simply a matter of the chemicals in the soil during growth periods and is completely harmless. She said those grown in sand usually don't turn brown while those in organic matter will, but the organic soil gives them a boost to jump start growth after replanting. She knows because the Bosch Nursery has supplied millions of trees over the years to several companies nationwide to replant the forests.

The Bosch Nursery began in the early 1950s by the Continental Can Company, an earlier owner of the mill and forestry operation at Hodge, to provide seedling for its own timberlands. The nursery was purchased by Leonard Bosch, one of the first employees there. While operations had ceased at Bosch in the last few years, they plan a moderate planting schedule next year.

"We plant while the trees are in their dormant stage," said Kenneth Womack, Timberland Superintendent at Plum Creek in Joyce. Pines can't be transplanted in summer or spring because they are still growing. "During that period, the small seedlings would die when we pull them up to plant them."

This 2003-2004 planting season, Plum Creek planted 1.2 million pine seedlings on 2,107 acres.

"That's below average for our company," Womack said. "We've been changing our rotation to around 28 years to keep from clear cutting as much. We usually plant around 8,000 acres and we will again in a couple of years."

Plum Creek grows their own pine seedlings in a nursery on Pearl River in Mississippi.

The USDA Forest Service planted 268,000 long leaf pines and 91,000 short leaf pines this season on the 600,000-acre Kisatchie National Forest in Central and North Louisiana. Three hundred and thirty-five acres were planted in longleaf and 126 were planted in short leaf pine. The Forest Service received their longleaf seedlings from International Forest Nursery in Odenville, Alabama, grown from local seeds.

"This number of plantings have been common for the last few years," said Jo Ann Smith, Forestry Silviculturist for the Kisatchie National Forest. "One reason we are not replanting as many seedlings is that we are taking advantage of natural regeneration wherever possible. We plant trees that maintain the natural diversity of the forest with native species where we can't take advantage of the natural reseeding process."

During the 2003-2004 planting season, Weyerhaeuser Company planted more than 13 million seedlings on more than 30,000 acres. Weyerhaeuser manages more than seven million acres of timberland nationwide, including over one million in the state of Louisiana, all certified to Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards. Those acres of forestland serve the Weyerhaeuser mills in Louisiana at Campti, Dodson, Zwolle, Taylor, Simsboro, Shreveport, Holden, and Arcadia, plus others in Arkansas.

Weyerhaeuser maintains Tree Improvement Centers at Isabel \par }{\plain and Taylor, Louisiana to provide the best in seedlings for replanting each year.

Smurfit-Stone in Hodge, Louisiana begins planting in late January. The seedlings they plant are grown in Smurfit-Stone's Rock Creek nursery in Alabama. However, the seeds for these trees come from Louisiana, assuring their adaptation to the soil and climate conditions here.

Rock Creek grows up to 45 million disease resistant pine seedlings each year. Smurfit-Stone distributes 4 million of these trees to private landowners as part of the forest resources division's Cooperative Management Program.

"We are just finalizing our planting for the year," said John McKenzie, Area Manager of Operations for Smurfit-Stone in Hodge. "We work in four separate areas where we procure, manage and buy timber." Area one is South Arkansas and Northwest Louisiana; Area Two includes South Arkansas and Northeast Louisiana; Area Three is the area south of I-20 to Alexandria and Area Four is Central Mississippi. In those areas, Smurfit-Stone's Cooperative Management Program (CMP) works toward reversing what he calls the drain ratio.

At the big Smurfit-Stone paper mill in Hodge, it takes about 2.5 million tons of wood each year to keep production running.

"At one time, the timber industry overcut the forests," McKenzie said. "We are in the process of replenishing the forest so down the road, there will be trees." He said Smurfit-Stone trees are acquired at a price of $38 per thousand, planted at an 8x8 spacing at around 681 seedlings per acre. For the season 2003-2004, the company purchased four million seedlings and planted 5,870 acres of trees. Smurfit-Stone has promoted their CMP by aiding landowners since 1984 during which time they have planted 115 million seedlings, mostly year-old loblolly pine.

"We do it to promote sustainability," said Larry Taylor, forest resources for Smurfit-Stone. Since Smurfit-Stone owns no forest lands, they depend on regional landowners to supply their needs. They give back by helping landowners protect their growth crop, replacing pines as they are taken out.

"Planting seedlings is one major way we encourage sustainable forests," explained Taylor. It also builds a connection between landowners and Smurfit-Stone, a relationship that keeps them coming back to the company to harvest their trees.

One of those landowners, Teddy Ray Price of Winnfield has been using forest management since around 1984 for his nearly 2,000 acres. When he decided to tree farm, he understood the importance of having someone knowledgeable manage his property.

"I feel it's important to use the land for timber management as well as for wildlife management. Those go hand-in-hand," Price said.

Hundreds of other landowners take advantage of such provision from companies nationwide. Though there is no charge for this management, they agree to let the companies bid on their timber when the time comes for harvesting.

The Dugdemona Soil and Water Conservation District also plants trees in Louisiana each year. Just in the district around Winn and Jackson parishes 15 varieties of trees from bald cypress, black walnut and red maple to persimmon were planted on public land.

"Last year some volunteer students and the Dugdemona S&WCD planted 3,000 trees at the Caney Lake State Park," said Vickie LaFollette, Project Coordinator for Dugdemona S&WCD. In addition, that group sold 1,300 trees and shrubs to individuals in the state. Dugdemona S&WCD receives their trees from the Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture & Forestry nursery near Columbia, Louisiana and from the National Tree Trust. Those seedlings are donated by companies like Weyerhaeuser, U.S. Timberlands and International Paper.

This annual process is a cycle of renewal after harvest and not only ensures new forests, but prevents soil erosion and builds habitat for wildlife. Most of all, it guarantees forests for coming generations to enjoy and profit from in the future.

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