By JAMES RONALD SKAINS
Journal Correspondent

The huge Fort Polk expansion of its Joint Readiness Training Center, to be implemented in 24 separate projects over the next six years, includes thinning 21,000 acres of Kisatchie National Forest Land in Central Louisiana.

"The thinning of timber on the 21,000 acres of national forest land is actually a win-win situation for everyone involved," Jim Caldwell, Public Affairs Officer for the Kisatchie National Forest, told The Piney Woods Journal. "All work on the fores will adhere to best management practices. Of real significance to the forest is that when the Army goes into training, they will make all their stream crossings at designated areas in a manner that does no damage to the streams."

"It is good for the forest in that the thinning operation will reduce the potential for wildfires," Caldwell said. The thinning will reduce the average basal area of 150 trees to 50 to 80 trees with an average of 14 inches.

"The thinning will also help the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, as the thinned acres will increase their natural habitat areas. The woodpecker colonies thrive in areas with a lower basal tree count."

The military population at Ft. Polk on June 20, 2003, was 10,204, of whom 7,108 reside on the Post. Another 16,230 military family members either reside on the Post on in the immediate Ft. Polk vicinity. Also, Ft. Polk employees, some civilian employees, and 13,135 retired military personnel live in Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas.

"This is a huge project with national defense implications," said Col. Rocke, Garrison Commander at Ft. Polk and a 1979 West Point graduate. "Total cost of this expansion of training facilities for the Joint Readiness Training Center is $271 million. When these improvements are made at Ft. Polk and those at England Air Park, the Joint Readiness Command will be able to move troops within 96 hours."

"Within 96 hours from the time the first plane touches down at England Airpark, the last plane loaded with troops and equipment will be touching down in our designated deployment area somewhere in the world," said Col. Rocke, a New York/New Jersey native

"We are changing our basic Humvee vehicles to the new Stryker vehicles which give us much more fighting capability."

Ft. Polk, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the US Forest Service, are working cooperatively to help in the transformation of the 2nd Armored Cavalry. The goal of the transformation is four-fold.

First is the change in equipment, organization, and manning. Second is the use of Stryker vehicles and digital command and control equipment. The last two goals of the 2nd ACR are to be more deployable and lethal, globally responsive with the ability to fight in non-contiguous spaces.

The three improvements at England Air Park are designated as:
1. Construction of three ammunition handling pads for aerial embarkation and debarkation on the leased land at Ft. Polk's Intermediate Staging Base would provide for time-efficient and safe munitions loading and unloading of US Air Force aircraft association with required deployment and deployment training for 2CR and other units.
2. Construction would provide a dedicated passenger processing facility for the 2CR and visiting units deploying to and from Ft. Polk and the JRTC.
3. The project would upgrade and expand the existing North Ramp deployment apron on the leased land located at Ft. Polk's Intermediate Staging Base. Currently the North Ramp lacks adequate turning access and parking apron for C-5 and C-17 aircraft

Currently the land use area of Ft. Polk is 198,759 acres. The Army owns 100,634 of those acres with the US Forest Service owning the balance as part of the Calcasieu District of the Kisatchie National Forest. The use of the Kisatchie acreage is further defined as: Intense use, 40,504 acres; special use, 12,820 acres; and limited use, 44,799 acres.

Linda Lewis of the Calcasieu Ranger District acknowledged the difficulty of bringing 21,000 acres of timber land on the market to be thinned. "We know that this is not normal times in the timber industry. We know that the market is down, so we will probably spread the actual thinning out over ten years."

"We know that ready markets probably do not exist," Lewis further acknowledged. "We intend to go out into the market place and actively seek bidders for this timber. We will be going into different areas and holding meetings looking for buyers."

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