Caroline Dormon Trail

Caroline Dormon spent her career naming what grew in Louisiana pine forests — cataloging native plants, tracking migratory birds, mapping what was worth keeping. In 1930, she helped establish Kisatchie National Forest, the state's only national forest, and became the first woman employed by the U.S. Forest Service. The work was taxonomic and political both: convincing the federal government that cutover longleaf pine country was worth protecting required knowing exactly what lived there. The 10.5-mile trail named for her runs through that forest now. It's open to hikers, horseback riders, and cyclists — multi-use in the way Forest Service trails often are, built for whoever shows up. The forest Dormon helped protect in 1930 is still here, and the trail moves through it without trying to explain too much. She died in 1971. What she identified and argued for remains.