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BRINGING
BACK WILDLIFE Although it is a major goal of Louisiana's government officials, sustaining and improving Louisiana's business environment is not the only environment that could bear improvement.
With support of the newly launched Louisiana Natural Heritage program, Nicole Lorenz, a graduate student in LSU's School of Renewable Natural Resources, is identifying potential habitat areas in southwest Louisiana to successfully reintroduce the three species. According to Lorenz, Louisiana once had roughly 2 million acres of the longleaf pine savanna and coastal prairie habitats at the disposal of these animals. Conversion of that land for agricultural and crop use caused extinction of the habitats. Under the guidance of Assistant Professor Andrew Curtis, Department of Geography & Anthropology, Lorenz is in the process of selecting habitats that may be suitable for these species. Vegetation in longleaf pine savannahs includes longleaf pines, which can reach a height of 100 feet and diameter of 10 feet, understory dogwoods, post oaks, blackjacks, and tall grasses. The coastal prairie habitat includes mostly brackish and freshwater marshes and stretches from the Atchafalaya Bay to the state's western border. Lorenz is compiling data by looking at soil types, aerial photos, and vegetation types from habitats exclusively in southwest Louisiana. Using data from LSU's Computer Aided Design & Geographic Information Systems research laboratory (CADGIS), Lorenz is determining why other areas in the country can support these species. As noted by Lorenz, the main reason why these animals left Louisiana was due to their habitat being turned into agricultural land; however, most of the longleaf pine savannas and coastal prairies that remain are not in pristine condition. The remaining habitats are not livable for the species because of a lack of fire burns, which is a controlled fire that promotes new growth. The Louisiana Natural Heritage Program is part of the Natural Heritage Network, which was developed by the Nature Conservancy and NatureServe. The primary goal of the program is to gather, organize, and distribute information on biological diversity in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and parts of Latin America. Overall, Lorenz comments that it is not the animals that are endangered; it is their habitats. She hopes that in discovering how best to restore and maintain their habitats, she and other researchers can bring these animals back to Louisiana. ON
THE WEB: from Spring 2004 Issue
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Once
thriving and abundant, Louisiana's longleaf pine savanna and coastal
prairie habitats were both home to several animal species that
the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries wants to
bring back to the state. The ornate box turtle, burrowing owl,
and crested caracara, a bird of prey, have retreated to similar
habitats in other states and countries because their native habitats
are completely nonexistent in Louisiana.