Kisatchie National Forest

Louisiana's only national forest was designated in 1930, during the administration of President Herbert Hoover. The name Kisatchie is derived from a tribe of Kichai Indians of the Caddo Confederacy. Botanist Caroline Dormon campaigned to create it — the forest contains a trail named in her honor. Today it covers 604,000 acres across seven parishes, more than half of it longleaf pine and flatwoods vegetation. The longleaf pine forest type has declined significantly over the last century. Kisatchie is one of the largest pieces of natural landscape in Louisiana. The forest sits on Cenozoic uplands, some of Louisiana's oldest rocks. The terrain includes hardwood bottomlands, sandstone bluffs, hillside seepage bogs, and calcareous prairies. Less than one thousand acres of calcareous prairie may remain in the entire state. Three pieces are associated with Kisatchie: the Kieffer prairie (769 acres), the historic Tancock Prairie (45 acres), and the historic Bartram Prairie (1,190 acres). The latter two are called historic because they were mentioned in 1836 survey records; they have reverted to forest. Biologists have found 155 species of breeding or overwintering birds, 48 mammal species, 56 reptile species, and 30 amphibian species. Rare animals include the Louisiana pine snake, the red-cockaded woodpecker, the Louisiana black bear, and the Louisiana pearlshell mussel. The forest protects habitat for wild orchids and carnivorous plants — pale pitcher plant and rose pogonia orchid among them. The Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area near Natchitoches is 8,700 acres of nationally designated wilderness, some of the most rugged terrain in the state. Kisatchie Bayou runs through it, a tributary of Old River at Isle Brevelle, known for clear water, swimming holes, and waterfalls. Kisatchie Falls is one of the few waterfalls and the only Class II rapids in Louisiana. Approximately 21 miles of Saline Bayou was designated a National Wild and Scenic River. The forest has more than 100 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. The Caroline Dormon Trail accommodates all three. Multiple trailheads lie within 30 minutes of downtown Natchitoches. Other activities: birding, fishing, backcountry camping, canoeing, boating, photography, hunting, picnicking, swimming.