Louisiana DWF Offering Habitat Management Assistance to Landowners Through Prescribed Burn Initiative

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries 10.26.12

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is offering habitat management assistance to landowners through the department’s East Gulf Coastal Plain Prescribed Burn Initiative

Prescribed burning is an important tool for managing pine and mixed pine-hardwood forests in Louisiana. To assist landowners with management activities, improve habitat for wildlife, and encourage additional burning throughout the state, LDWF has gained approval and funding for three separate US Fish and Wildlife Service, State Wildlife Grants over the past three years. Funding from these grants is used to cost-share prescribed burns on those properties that qualify for the initiative.

EGCP Prescribed Burn initiative funding is available to landowners with property that meets ranking criteria in the following parishes: West Feliciana, East Feliciana, St. Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington and St. Tammany. Applications are ranked according to habitat characteristics and potential wildlife benefits. LDWF will provide approximately 80 percent of the cost of prescribed burning activities from initiative funds and assist landowners by locating contractors to conduct the work on all approved tracts.

Applications must be submitted by Nov. 9 to be considered for the 2012-2013 burning season. However, applications submitted after this date will be eligible for funding in 2013-2014.

If you or someone you know has property in southeast Louisiana that would benefit from prescribed burning, please contact the LDWF Hammond field office at 985-543-4777 or Cody Cedotal at 225-765-2354 or ccedotal@wlf.la.gov for more information and applications.

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Enforcement Division(LDWF) is the fish & game regulatory agency of Louisiana. It has jurisdictionanywhere in the state, and in state territorial waters. The agency enforces both state and federal laws dealing with hunting, fishing, and boating safety. The agency also enforces criminal laws in rural areas including DWI enforcement both on highways and waterways. Most of the Department’s Wildlife Agents also carry Federal law enforcement commissions issued from the United States Department of the Interior - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Commerce - U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These federal commissions allow these state officers to enforce federal migratory waterfowl laws and federal marine fisheries laws in state and federal waters off the coast of Louisiana. Besides their traditional role as a “game warden”, Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agents also have a number of other responsibilities, including conducting board of health inspections on some portions of the state’s commercial fishing industry. Agents are trained in and conduct numerous search and rescue operations, both in remote land areas and on the state’s waterways. Agents ensure that hunters, anglers, boaters, dealers, breeders, farmers, and transporters are in compliance with regulations governing equipment, quotas, licenses, and registrations. Agents also assist other State departments and law enforcement agencies in the coordination of educational and professional endeavors, as well as national and state emergency alerts by the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness. In addition, agents perform search and rescue missions alone or in conjunction with other local, state, and federal agencies.