re: How hard turning woods into cattle pasture.

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Hammertime, I had let some pasture go back to woods about 10 years ago. There is a good stand of hardwoods growing now without planting anything. Another place I own was pasture 35 years ago that is now ready to harvest the hardwoods. I been select cutting it for my saw mill.

So yes, pasture will grow back fast.

My daughter is about to clear out 40 ac to build crawfish ponds and duck hunting holes. When one owns land, one needs to work it. One has got to make the land pay for itself. Taxes are a bitch.

I had a few beers yesterday. Long birthday day. Shouldn't have said never, and of course it depends on the level of hardpan. From the ones I have dug to, they are usually at a depth of 8-20" in LA. Any significant amount of hardpan, and shite just can't grow through it. Any stresses put on the ecosystem, and the trees die. You're just sort of stuck at the line between primary and secondary succession until you break up the hardpan.

Most of St Tammany is loaded with pines, which would probably be what was clearcut to make a pasture. Their root ball grows down. The hardpan would stop that from happening, and like a wrote earlier, any stresses will kill all of the trees. I've been in pastures that haven't been touched in 20-30 years, and you always get the same "pioneer" species. FARR Park is an example around BR unless they've done something else with it.

People should understand that forests aren't some endless resource. They can, have, and will go away forever. They should be treated the same way as any bird, fish, turtle, bear, etc. Having seen how much the landscape of LA has changed, even in my now 33 years, I take it very seriously

There was an old growth cypress forest in now Joyce WMA. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Not sure if it is still there, but I know it can all be gone very quickly

So you are saying no land with trees should be made available for housing developments which in turn increases local revenues? I own 5.5 acres and plan on building I won't think twice about removing some of the trees.

Not every development is a parking lot. you would consider Bedico Creek a parking lot with spec homes?

Need to consider drainage. Cut field may drain rainwater a lot faster than woods and create unanticipated problems for you and/or your neighbors.

Bedico got hit pretty hard by the post-Katrina shitty developers.

One in Madisonville that didn't bother me too much was Black River. Most of the neighborhood layout was designed well. Larger lots. More greenspace. Left a lot of mature trees. New homes.

Fellow in Allen parish has the prettiest stand of young longleaf pine in the state. He rotates cattle through it and burns it regularly.

So much stupid in this thread.

First, to ole boy bitching and complaining about this guy wanting to cut some woods to create pasture--and claiming trees won't grow back--just stop. If the guy wants to cut crummy loblolly pine down, let him. And trees will grow back if he decided to let it go. Go buy your own woods and protect them.

And to you, Geauxtiga, learn something about those government programs and those lands before criticizing. Most are marginal lands that aren't good for agricultural purposes. CRP onoy applies to highly erodible lands that should not be farmed. Pasture typically does not apply because it is already permanently vegetated.

WRE, or the old WRP, is typically implemented on marginal cropland that was previously wetland.

As for the Corps of Engineers Mitigation bank program--would you rather Citgo or Chevron go restore wetlands that they impact? Or Joe Blow Shopping Center developer?

Yeah, I thought not.