Louisiana's state tree has been the focus of a battle between business and conservationists for years.
Last year, a national advertising campaign urged Americans to boycott mulch made from bald cypress, taking the fight to a new level.
Since then, the Save Our Cypress Coalition, made up of environmental, wildlife and academic activists, has lobbied for Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Home Depot to stop selling Louisiana cypress mulch.
Now, activists say they have photos of clear-cutting in areas that won't grow back and local mulch being put in bags marked from Florida.
The billion-dollar industry is led by a growing demand for cypress mulch, favored because it won't float away in the rain like other types. Cypress is a small part of Louisiana's overall timber industry, and 80 percent of the cypress forests are on private land.
Up to 80 percent of the state's cypress is in southern Louisiana swamp areas that can't regrow, according to a 2005 state report. Louisiana's coastal cypress forests are a buffer against strong winds and storm surges. One of those areas is the Atchafalaya Basin, where environmental scientists worry about regrowth in high-water areas and invasive exotic trees in drier areas.
The latest target of the coalition is a mulch facility in Port Allen, owned by Corbitt Manufacturing, one of the national mulch leaders.
Coalition members say they've followed trucks from logging sites to the Port Allen site. After media attention last summer, members say Corbitt continued mulching Louisiana trees but started turning out bags marked "Florida Gold," instead of the "No Float" brand bags that previously were filled at the plant.
Chuck Corbitt, owner of Corbitt Manufacturing, says if the bagging was changed, it's simply a misunderstanding.
The "Florida Gold" brand is one of seven different brands of mulch Corbitt makes in different states. Five different species of tree regularly go into the "Florida Gold" bags, he said.
"The company wasn't reacting to media pressure and wasn't hiding Louisiana mulch in a Florida bag," he added. "That's not the intention there at all."
Mislabeling of mulch bags is the coalition's latest focus in a campaign for public support. It's part of a long-term effort to develop a third-party certification process for where mulch comes from, like the Forestry Stewardship Council, which certifies much of the lumber retailers buy, said Dan Favre of the Gulf Restoration Network.
Activists say the Florida bag mix-up is the latest example of how customers have been kept in the dark about Louisiana cypress' future.
"We find it rather interesting they're selling 'Florida Gold,' which gives the indication it comes from Florida," said Barry Kohl, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Tulane University. "We're concerned that at that plant they're using whole trees. It's not a byproduct of other logging, and our forests are being clear-cut for a temporary mulch product."
Small part of picture
Loggers, mulchers and the Louisiana Forestry Association say the coast isn't affected by cypress cutting. Areas close to the Gulf aren't accessible to cut and take too much effort to be profitable. Cypress makes up less than 5 percent of timber cut in the state, said Buck Vandersteen, LFA executive director.
Industry advocates say the majority of cypress is cut for timber, and leftover scraps contribute to most of the mulch. When full trees are mulched, it's at the landowner's discretion, usually to wipe their land clean for better cypress regrowth, Vandersteen said.
Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart all say they've questioned Corbitt on where trees are logged and are confident cypress being cut in Louisiana is in renewable areas.
Activists have photos showing just the opposite is happening but say no one on the state level will listen.
State swamps fall into three classifications of regrowth potential. Class 1 grows back naturally, Class 2 requires human replanting and Class 3 areas can't recover from logging.
Dean Wilson, a member of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, is one coalition member who says he has photos of clear-cutting in a Class 3 swamp.
Class 2 swamps can regrow, if baby cypress trees are planted and grow tall enough to stay above the water surface. But even then, invasive trees like willow and Chinese tallow move in and grow faster than the cypress. Both activists and loggers agree this can push out cypress permanently. But landowners can cut out invasive trees to try and improve cypress' chances.
'Like you dropped bomb'
The Ivory Swamp in Rosedale, once full of cypress, is a jagged, barren landscape today.
Since a clear cut in 2005, cypress stumps and sharp, hollow hulls of dead trees dominate a quiet, muddy field. The few remaining trees on site are said to be willow or Chinese tallow.
Clear cutting like this abandons the 40 percent of North American birds who migrate through Louisiana's swamps each year, Wilson said.
Mike Bienvenue, a crawfisherman in the Atchafalaya Basin and president of the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association, says he saw cypress cutting a few months ago in Butte La Rose, on state ground. He said the basin looked "dead" afterwards.
"When they cut the cypress out, all you have left is the trash trees," he said. "It's like you dropped the bomb right there."
Efforts to work with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry have gone nowhere, Wilson said. Wilson is an Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, a volunteer who has been appointed to monitor the area.
Bob Odom, LDAF commissioner, said he can't recall any requests to look into illegal cypress logging. Eighty percent of cypress forest land is privately owned, and Odom said he wouldn't be comfortable regulating it.
Vandersteen said the history of private landowners shows that if they can profit by logging cypress on their land, they'll do all they can to help the forests regrow for continued profit.
Topics for change
Coalition members are focusing pressure on the retailers first but hope state or federal changes can be made to limit how cypress logging is conducted.
A landmark decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in June gave environmentalists hope for the cause. The EPA told a private landowner in Livingston Parish he needed to prove his cypress forest would regrow before he could cut it.
The science behind the EPA's decision was questioned by the logging industry, who said landowners would lose the right to manage their property.
"In forestry, the areas we operate in 99 percent of the time are those Class 1 and 2 areas that will regenerate," said Vandersteen, of the industry-supporting LFA. "Regrowth doesn't necessarily come back in the same trees you cut, but Mother Nature isn't perfect."
Placing business interests before Louisiana's most significant tree needs to stop, said R. David Brown, attorney for the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.
"The cypress mulching industry reminds you there is no bottom to the wellspring of bad ideas," he said.
Wilson said he would like Army Corps of Engineers rules for clear-cutting to be stricter.
When a 43,500-square-foot acre is cut, a total of 40 square feet of trees must remain. Bald cypress trees 42 inches in diameter and 10 feet tall can't be cut.
The easement rules are being fought in three cases at the U.S. District Court in Lafayette by lumber companies that own land in St. Landry and St. Martin parishes.The Daily Advertiser
