Caroline Dormon and the Fight for Kisatchie

Before Caroline Dormon, Louisiana had no national forest. Born in Saline in 1888, Dormon became the first woman employed by the U.S. Forest Service and spent decades lobbying Congress to protect central Louisiana's longleaf pine ecosystem. Her work led to the creation of Kisatchie National Forest in 1930 — 600,000 acres that today harbor Red-cockaded Woodpecker colonies and the state's most dramatic terrain. Dormon published six books on Louisiana plants and birds, painted botanical watercolors, and designed gardens. The 10.5-mile trail named for her threads through the forest she saved.