Reward of up to $50,000 offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of arsonists

Sept. 8, 2000

A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered by timber interests for information leading to the arrest and conviction of arsonists responsible for setting fires in a five-parish area that burned more than 40,000 acres in the first seven days of September.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom said the reward is for information concerning fires in Allen, Beauregard, Evangeline, Rapides and Vernon parishes. Anyone with information should call the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office at 337-639-4353 or 1-800-824-4523.

"Our forestry investigators are assisting the allen Parish Sheriff's Office, following leads that are acquired through the hotlines," Odom added. "It's very important that we apprehend the individuals who have destroyed people's homes and some of our state's most valuable timberland."

More than 50,000 acres of timber valued at $50 million have burned statewide in the first seven days of September. More than half of the fires and 80 percent of the acreage were in the five parishes offering the reward.

Allen Parish Sheriff Hal Turner said he believes the reward will encourage people to call and report any information they may have.

"We feel the information we receive during these investigations will lead us to the people responsible for the fires," Turner said. :If I were an arsonist in this area involved in setting these fires, I'd be very uncomfortable right now. The whole community is outraged over this and they will cooperate with our investigations."

Sponsors of the $50,000 reward are the Woods Arson Prevention Association, Louisiana Forestry Association, Crime Stoppers and Southwest Louisiana Forest Landowners.

With rains and high humidity reported in much of the fire stricken portion of the state, Odom said there has been a break in new fire activity.

"All of the fires are contained and we're seeing a drastic decrease in the amount of new fire activity. This will definitely give our men a chance to get caught up on some much-needed rest," odom said. "This is the perfect opportunity for us to catch the people who are setting these fires so that when things get dry again, they won't be out there to set more fires."

National Guard troops who were helping with fire suppression efforts have been released, but will remain available if fires become active again.

"The Guard is standing down, but they will be available if we have a repeat of what occurred earlier this week," Odom noted. "this little bit of moisture we're having is a great relief, but we're still in a serious situation. In some areas of the state, if the sun came out right now, we'd have fires breaking out minutes later. It's that bad out there."
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Governor orders burn ban in 41 Louisiana Parishes

Sept. 6, 2000

Gov. Mike Foster signed a sweeping burn ban for 41 parishes as a result of extreme dry conditions that left more than 100 fires burning across the state Wednesday.

The proclamation authorizes Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom in conjunction with State Fire Marshal V.J. Bella to maintain the burn ban until they determine weather conditions have changed to such an extent that conditions for wildfires cease to exist.

The proclamation also authorizes Odom and Bella to add or remove parishes from the ban as needed.\par }{\plain At the end of the day Wednesday, there were 104 active fires, the largest involved nearly 20,000 acres burning between Oberlin and Oakdale in Allen Parish and extending into Evangeline Parish.

Firefighters from Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, individual timber and paper companies and volunteer firemen were on the scene attempting to contain the fire.

The language in the ban prohibits "setting fire to any forest, fields, crops, grass, woods, cultivated lands, wild lands or marshes, or to build or light a campfire, bonfire, or other fire, or burn crops, stubble, grass debris, trash or other material, of whatever nature, in any of the parishes included in this proclamation."

There are two exceptions: backfires used by firefighters attempting to stop the movement of a runaway fire, and in "prescribed burning of sugar cane for the purpose of harvesting sugar cane."

However, the sugar cane burning "may only be conducted only in strict conformity with the requirements of R.S. 3:17, including a certified Prescribed Burn Manager and in accordance with a defined burn management plan"

The parishes included in the ban are Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, DeSoto, East Carroll, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jefferson Davis, LaSalle, Lincoln, Jackson, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vermilion, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, and Winn.
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30,000 acres burn in Allen Parish in two days

More than 11,000 additional acres went up in flames in Allen Parish Wednesday, Sept. 6, bringing to nearly 30,000 the amount of timberland burned n the parish in two days.

Commissioner of agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom, in Allen and DeSoto parishes Thursday said, after discussions with his Office of Forestry firefighters, that misty rains moving into the areas at midday Thursday had caused a bread in the rapid spread of the wildfires.

"We are starting to contain the worst of it," Odom said. "We've got a lot of exhausted forestry firefighters on the ground. The brief break is much needed so my men can catch their breath."

Odom and National Guard Major Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau were reviewing timber losses, damaged structures and the progress of firefighting activity in helicopter flyovers and ground inspections of the hardest hit areas Thursday.

"All totaled we have had 395 fires and nearly 50,000 acres burned in Louisiana in the first seven days of September," he said. "Our initial estimate is that about $50 million in timber has been lost." Louisiana usually has between 50,000 and 100,000 acres burned in an entire year.

At the fire sites, Odom was meeting with his Office of Forestry firefighting division leaders, who were on the ground directing National Guard helicopters and the application of 660-gallon water dump buckets on the fires. "We are picking the most dangerous fires with the greatest risk to residences and other structures to deliver the water to. We have three helicopters working fires in Allen and Evangeline parishes and two helicopters working out of Mansfield on the DeSoto Parish fires."

There are 100 professional firefighters from the Office of Forestry and an additional 50 men from other offices in the Department of Agriculture and Forestry working the fires. "I've had 150 men going non-stop for almost five days now.

"It appears we've got some favorable weather moving in with high humidity and the moist air," Odom said. "Of course, with the bone-dry conditions, it will only take the sun to pop out for a little while before it starts the cycle all over again."

"In the last 24 hours we had 44 fires statewide break out covering 12,923 acres, 11,428 of that in Allen Parish," Odom said. The nearly 13,000 acres consumed by 44 fires is in addition to the more than 25,000 acres burned in the previous 24 hours in 104 fires statewide

We began using five National Guard Helicopters with bucket drops to dump water on the largest fires in Allen, Evangeline, Vernon, Rapides, and Sabine parish," Odom said.

Odom flew over the Allen Parish area around midnight Sept.5. "The fire is huge and growing. We had three fires merge along the Allen Parish - Evangeline Parish line last night between Oberlin and Oakdale. The three combined now gives us 20,000 acres burning," he said.

The other major fires are 2,000 acres along the Vernon - Rapides parish line and a 2,510-acre fire in DeSoto Parish. The DeSoto Parish fire is being mopped up. the latest reported fire of some size is a 100-acre fire along Toledo Bend in south Sabine Parish.

There are currently 104 fires ongoing in 25 parishes.

The fire in Allen is being named the Blue Bush fire. The fire in Vernon and Rapides parishes has been named the Mount Moriah Church fire. Arson is suspected in these fires, department investigators say.

Structures destroyed in the last week include two residences in the Oberlin-Oakdale area in Allen Parish; four residences and 12 other structures near Bel, also in Allen Parish; one residence and three other structures near Lula in DeSoto Parish; and three residences and eight other structures in the Logansport area, also in DeSoto Parish.

Some of the residences are actually hunting camps. The other structures include mostly barns and similar outbuildings.

The Blue Bush and Mount Moriah fires have led to evacuations by individuals in those areas. "Evacuation numbers are very fluid and difficult to keep up with in terms of individuals leaving their homes and returning within a matter of hours in most cases," Odom said.

"We are setting up helicopter command posts at the Department of Agriculture and Forestry's main office in Woodworth near Alexandria, and at the Department's Forestry District Office in Oberlin," Odom said. "We will dispatch the helicopters from those two positions to designated fire locations."

"We now have 150 department personnel fighting the fires, 40 National Guard ground troops acting under our direction, 100 firefighters from several timber companies and numerous volunteer firefighters working with us," Odom said.
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Louisiana battles 340 fires in drought conditions

Record high temperatures and extremely dry conditions are taxing forestry fire crews across the state as 340 separate fires over the last five days damaged more than 12,000 acres of land.

Fifteen structures have been burned during the recent fires, including six residences.

From January through August of this year, over 57,000 acres of land have been burned by wildfires. The ten-year average for the same time period is 27,000 acres.

Fires are predominantly occurring in the following parishes: Allen, Beauregard, Catahoula, DeSoto, Evangeline, LaSalle, Ouachita, Rapides, Union and Winn. Forestry investigators suspect arson and lightning strikes are the culprit in many of these fires.

"You can look at the number and see why we are very concerned about the number of fires and the amount of acreage burned during the last fire days," Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom said, "but what concerns us most is the physical condition of our forestry firefighters. Our men are suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, and we don\'92t want to jeopardize their lives because of some arsonists' reckless disregard for human lives.

"Last week, a veteran firefighter in Mississippi was burned and later died after fighting fires in that state. We cannot and will not allow this to happen to our firefighters."

Several forestry firefighters in Louisiana have been treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration, and fires have burned three firefighters so far this year.

In addition to the forestry fire crews, Odom has put 50 agriculture employees on stand-by to help fight on the perimeters of large fires and patrol fire lines. These are non-forestry employees who work in district offices ion close proximity to where the fires are occurring.

To prevent future injures and to provide forestry fire crews some relief, Odom has been working with Major General Bennett C. Landreneau, Adjutant General of the Louisiana National Guard, to secure aerial bucket drops and additional manpower if the crisis continues.

Odom is coordinating a complete outdoor burn ban with Gov. Mike Foster and State Fire Marshall V.J. Bella for most of the state excluding some southeastern and south central parishes.
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Disaster relief sought for state

Calling this year's record dry spell an ``unprecedented drought,'' the director of Louisiana's crop emergency board wants a disaster declaration for agriculture in 41 parishes.

A parish-by-parish assessment of the drought and its impact on this year's crops has spurred Willie Cooper, chairman of the Louisiana State Emergency Board, to write a letter to Gov. Mike Foster asking him to request a disaster declaration from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Based on the crop assessment, Cooper said those parishes have experienced a 30 percent loss in crop production, the federal threshold needed for such declarations. The call for the declaration would be the first step in attempting to secure federal money for Louisiana farmers.

Cooper, who is also the state director of the Farm Service Agency, would be responsible for distributing funds should they be approved.

Farm Bureau President Ronnie Anderson said the disaster declaration is crucial to the survival of many farmers. "Given the low prices we've seen this season, the loss of what little crop their is will likely put many producers out of business next year unless some help is forthcoming," Anderson said.

Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom agreed.

"We need help and we need it bad. This is our third straight year of record drought conditions," Odom said. "Looking at our crop condition statistics for this week we can see that more than half of our soybeans and pastures are listed in poor to very poor condition and a third or more of the remainder of our major crops are in the same categories."

"The State Emergency Board reviews data on the weather and yields on various crops and forwards it to the governor," said Kyle McCann, associate commodity director for the Farm Bureau. "The USDA is aware of the weather-related problems farmers are facing. If you look at the various drought indices and the potential problems stemming from that, we'll likely receive the designation.'"

Cooper said this year's drought is far-reaching, with more than half the state in its grip.

"Based on the damage assessment it has been determined that 33 parishes have production losses of 30 percent or greater in one or more commodities," Cooper said. In addition, seven parishes have been recommended for funding because while their losses did not exceed 30 percent overall, many producers faced yield losses in that range.

"The governor will base his decision on whether to request a disaster declaration on this data," McCann said. "With the unprecedented drought in its third year impacting much of the state, most of our parishes will likely qualify."

McCann said the disaster declaration would provide producers with low interest loans, which is not much of a benefit right now. "However, depending on what disaster programs might be approved in the appropriations process this year, it may make other grant-type programs available to them," he said.

Farmers already will receive aid this year in the form of loan deficiency payments (LDPs) and market transition assistance (AMTA) payments, though this would not affect a disaster declaration.

"We have a lot of market loss with commodities being at record lows,'' McCann said. "LDPs and AMTA payments are aimed at the price side of producer's revenue. The other side of that coin is production loss. Disaster programs look at production loss and the actual physical destruction of a crop.

"The impact of both low prices and drought, and our lack of control over these situations, is blatantly obvious," McCann continued. "However, long-term solutions are needed in the new Farm Bill for 2002."

Over the last three years Congress has allocated more than $30 billion in aid to the nation's farmers. McCann said although Congress does not reconvene until September, some preliminary disaster dollar figures are already being tossed around.

"The Senate has already offered up $900 million, $450 million of which would be allocated to natural disaster-type programs," he said. "That level could increase, particularly due to the political climate and the still-unfolding drought. We'll just have to wait and see once again."
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No rain, temp hits 108 as drought grows

A southwide drought continued to creep outward this month, reaching further into Louisiana's southern tip, and spreading further north and west toward the central part of the state. (See map, on weather page)

There was no relief in North Louisiana during August for the drought and heat wave which has parched home gardens, lawns and pastures, and left the logging woods ankle-deep in powdery dust.

For the first time this year, there was no measurable rainfall in Dodson for the entire month of August, and daily high temperatures spiked up to 100 degrees or above for 16 of the month's 31 days. A blistering 108 was read unofficially at The Piney Woods Journal's west-facing in-the-shade thermometer on Wednesday, August 30, and 104 on our east-facing shaded screened back porch. Either way, the outdoor heat grew more intense as the long, hot summer moved into September, and hopefully toward some relief from the desert-like dry heat.

Some very scattered rain showers were noted in some parts of the local Parish, briefly around Winnfield and other spots, but with no sustained moisture anywhere in the region.

For the year to date, measured rainfall in Dodson-located just about center-point in the Northern Louisiana hill country region, remained at 42.0 inches, with slightly over 20 inches of that having fallen in March and April. May at 4.6 inches, June at 8.6, and July at 2.6 brought no break in drought conditions.

(For local, regional, and national weather information, go to either of The Journal's websites, www.thepineywoods.com or the Dodson home page, http://dodsonla.home.att.net/ and click the weather links.)
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City trees suffer from drought impact, says Odom

Louisiana's urban trees, hemmed in by concrete and asphalt, are beginning to feel the impact of a third consecutive year of record drought.

"Urban foresters with the department are reporting yellowing and thinning canopies, dead and breaking limbs and other signs of large trees under severe stress," said Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom.

A brutally hot and dry summer, which has delivered only a third to a half as much rain as normal, is beginning to take its toll on many hardwood shade trees, Odom said. "While half the rainfall in the typical Louisiana forest makes its way to a tree's root system, urban trees will get the benefit of barely 10 percent of the available moisture."

Trees growing in a city environment do so in spite of inhospitable, unforgiving surroundings. ``In an urban setting the ground is hard-packed, the roots are pinched by overlaying house foundations, driveways and pavement asphalt. Streets and storm drains carry off 90 percent of the water from rainfall and lawn watering,'' Odom said.

Trees under the most stress are water oaks, a popular urban tree. Also popular in the city are live oaks which handle drought well. The least endangered are pines with a taproot that reaches deep underground for moisture. Falling somewhere in the middle on the stress scale are other hardwood trees. And older trees are subject to more stress, faster than younger trees.

"One of the first stress indicators is a canopy that begins to turn yellow and dead branches at the top of the tree," said the department's Urban Forestry Chief Paul Orr. "This is not necessarily the case of a tree dying but it does indicate that the tree is under serious stress and is going into early dormancy."

"Only with adequate moisture in the fall and the coming of spring next year, will the homeowner be able to tell just how serious this summer's damage actually was,"he said.

But many trees, under the drought stress of the last three years, cannot stand much more without some help. The homeowner has several options to ensure that the trees survive through this summer and revive next year.

Orr suggest watering but no fertilization. "What a lot of people do is just water constantly. That is better than nothing at all, but most of that water runs off into the street or storm drain. The soil is so compacted the water doesn't percolate down into the soil. You can water for 30 minutes and dig into compacted soil and the water hasn't soaked in an inch."

To prepare the soil for increased watering, Orr recommends aeration. Aeration is done by punching holes in the ground every foot or so in a doughnut shape from the internal drip line of the tree out past the external drip line of the tree's overhanging limbs. But Orr notes that a large tree in an average yard has roots "in every square inch of the yard."

The homeowners' solution is to purchase the soil augur for $10 to $15 from the local garden supply store and drill holes in the ground, about six to eight inches deep, Orr said. Also professional arborists can do the job with drum aerators with spikes used to punch the holes, similar to those used on golf courses.

Be careful using metal rods and shovels, Orr cautions. "Don't cut or damage the roots, that defeats the purpose of getting water down to the root system." he said.

And, he emphasized, do not fertilize in drought conditions. The typical fertilizer elements of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus have high salt content that only depletes available moisture adding to the tree's woes.
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Landowner price for timber down due to drought in South

Prices received by landowners for standing trees dropped significantly throughout the South in the year's second quarter, reflecting drought-induced over supplies of merchantable timber and the slowing economy, said Marshall Thomas, president of the Albany, Georgia-based F&W Forestry services.

He said the twin forces of the drought and the economy have created a "buyer's market" for timber of all categories throughout most of the South.

Thomas, whose firm tracks timber stumpage prices and market conditions in eight Southern states, said prices for large pine sawtimber-class trees used mostly for lumber production were down 6.7 percent in the quarter ended June 30, compared to the first period. Smaller sawtimber, called chip-n-saw, were down 8.1 percent, and pine pulpwood, smaller trees used by the pulp and paper industry for fiber, fell 5.7 percent.

"The downward trend in prices during the second quarter was fairly general throughout the South except in Coastal North Carolina and Central Virginia," Thomas said. ``These two areas, which are not in the extreme drought zone, saw some prices increases for larger size pine, but pulpwood was virtually unchanged.

Thomas said the drought, now in its third year in most areas of the South, has created an almost unlimited supply of timber, driving down prices. "It would be hard to find a timber tract outside of Coastal North Carolina and Virginia too wet to be logged," he said.

While the outlook for pulpwood prices continues bleak for Southern tree farmers, Thomas said the prospects for large lumber-sized trees are brighter. Although housing construction has shown some recent softening, it still remains basically strong, he said.
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