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COMPREHENSIVE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
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COMPREHENSIVE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
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Geographic, Climatic, Environmental, and Natural Resource Profile The physical geography of much of Northwest Louisiana is dominated by the presence of the Red River, which runs through the center of the parishes comprising the region. The land along the river valley is a part of the Southern Mississippi Alluvial Plain, while the remainder of the region is referred to as the North Louisiana Uplands. This section of the State has fertile country, as well as cities and towns. This is a green land dotted with cypress, pecan, pine, ash, hickory, and huge oak trees. The area is not lacking in color, due to the abundance of flowering trees, shrubs, and animals. Tourists are sometimes surprised to see the rolling hills of northwestern Louisiana. Accustomed to the more publicized bayous and marshlands of the southern part of the State, they are not prepared for the contrasting contour of Louisiana’s northwestern corner. Northwest Louisiana’s natural resources have provided an important impetus in shaping the area’s economy. Most of these resources have a long history of use. However, there is one resource which was discovered and put into use relatively recently. Forests have been, and continue to be an important natural resource for Northwest Louisiana. There is forest land in each of the district’s ten parishes. The 3.3 million acres of forest land in this area represent well over sixty percent of Northwest Louisiana’s total acreage. Nearly two thirds of the area’s forests are evergreen. The role which forests play in the area’s economy can be seen by the number of log trucks traveling almost any rural highway. There are saw mills, paper mills, and various manufacturing operations which utilize locally grown timber. In 2002, the total stumpage value of severed timber in Northwest Louisiana totaled over $191 million. This represented more than one third of the stumpage value of severed timber for the entire State of Louisiana. It should be noted that most of the income-producing forest land is owned by large companies which are dependent upon a continuous supply of timber for their future livelihood. Louisiana is well known for its production of fossil fuels. Although Northwest Louisiana is not covered with derricks, there are producing oil wells in each of the ten parishes. Natural gas exists in abundant quantities and is extracted in several parishes. Within the last twenty-five years, an additional fossil fuel has been found to exist in Northwest Louisiana. In the late 1980’s, lignite strip mines were constructed in the Parishes of DeSoto and Red River. These mines supply lignite for an electric power plant in DeSoto Parish. Deposits of lignite are known to also exist in the Parishes of Sabine, Natchitoches, and Bienville. Most of Northwest Louisiana’s populated areas are served by water systems. There are a few systems which could expand. Water quality varies greatly from system to system, but the poorest quality is generally found in the rural systems. From time to time, the State has determined that local water systems are providing water that could be harmful to humans if consumed and local populations are instructed to boil their water drinking it, such as occurred in Mooringsport in 2000. The more densely populated areas of the region have sewer collection and treatment systems. Many of the sewage collection problems are associated with the fact that lines are old and tend to take in storm water during heavy rain, thus overburdening the treatment facilities and causing them to discharge untreated wastewater. Although most treatment facilities are adequate to handle the present load, there are some which do not have the capacity to handle much additional load. For those systems, an additional industry could not use the municipal sewer system and this would serve as a hindrance to development. Electrical distribution is handled by private companies, rural cooperatives, and in a few cases, municipalities. The area has not experienced major problems with respect to electricity. Major outages occur during ice storms and thunderstorms and power is usually restored in a short period of time after the causing event. By analyzing the number and percent of jobs in each industry classification sector, it is possible to get an idea as to the industries that have the greatest influence on the local economy. The Louisiana Department of Labor divides industries into 20 different classification sectors. For the year 2001, Northwest Louisiana’s largest percentages of employees were found in Health Care and Social Assistance (15.95%), retail trade (18.21%), manufacturing (11.67%), and educational services (9.89%). The State of Louisiana’s top four sectors were exactly the same as those of the Northwest Louisiana region. Tourism has been an important part of the Northwest Louisiana economy for many years. Tourist draws include recreation facilities, lakes, spectator sports, annual festivals, cultural attractions, and historic sites. In 1995, the first of five riverboat casinos opened on the Red River in Shreveport and Bossier City and they have also stimulated tourism. Although General Motors has had a manufacturing operation in Shreveport since the late 1970’s, its recently announced expansion followed by establishment of local facilities by suppliers of parts in the region has increased the automotive industry’s position as a major sector of the local economy. Relationship of the Area’s Economy to the State and Region Northwest Louisiana’s manufacturing base continues to strengthen this region’s economic ties to the surrounding area, the State, and the nation. Many of the industries located in the district market their products and services at least regionally, if not nationally and internationally. In the past, this region’s relationship to other areas was primarily as a supplier of raw materials, and it must be noted that in many cases, that remains true. However, there is mounting evidence that this region’s relationship to surrounding regions is more than that. Alliance Compressors in Natchitoches makes air conditioner compressors for several different HVAC manufacturers around the country. Continental Structural Plastics in northern Webster Parish manufactures automobile and air conditioner parts for companies located all over the United States, some of which are based in Europe. The General Motors truck manufacturing facility in Shreveport recently expanded, and with that expansion, a number of its suppliers opened operations near the plant. Additionally, building upon the capabilities of the GM suppliers, representatives of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development are calling on automotive manufacturers in Europe, Japan, and South Korea to encourage either a future stateside location in Louisiana for a new manufacturing facility or the use of Louisiana based automotive parts manufacturers for their stateside production facilities. In mid 2003, a meeting was held at the Louisiana Department of Economic Development’s office in Baton Rouge with representatives of the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, LED, CDC, MEPoL, and the LSU Agriculture Center Cooperative Extension Service to follow up on the Value Added Wood Products program for Northwest Louisiana that was undertaken in 1998 with funding from EDA. A task force was named to develop and implement programs that would utilize the recommendations in the 1998 Study to help small secondary wood processing companies located in rural Northwest Louisiana to develop new products and open new markets. These are only a few of the examples of the evidence of the ways in which Northwest Louisiana has become more of an exporter of finished products instead of raw materials. The Coordinating
and Development Corp. |
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