Cassidy Faces Backlash Over Bill to Transfer Kisatchie Ownership

LAFAYETTE, La. — A draft federal bill would transfer approximately 140,000 acres of Kisatchie National Forest out of federal management and into Grant Parish, and opposition has come from nearly every direction, including from the local government being offered the land.

According to the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, the proposal, formally titled the “Grant Parish Restoration Plan,” would convey nearly 24 percent of Louisiana’s only national forest to the Grant Parish Police Jury, the Grant Parish School Board, or another eligible local entity.

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It does so by amending the Internal Revenue Code to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to forfeit all “rights, title, and interests” to every portion of the Kisatchie within Grant Parish’s borders, including all buildings, vehicles, equipment, inventory, research materials, and records maintained by the U.S. Forest Service in the area.

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) drafted the bill. KALB reported that Cassidy told the outlet, “When you look at the percent of their land which is controlled by the federal government, you can understand the point that that slows their economic development. At this point, we’re still working on it, but I am committed to bringing economic development to Grant Parish.” Cassidy’s office has not responded to media requests for comment on the specifics of the draft.

The Land at Stake

Kisatchie National Forest was established in 1930 after decades of clear-cutting had stripped central Louisiana’s landscape bare. The federal government acquired the land under the Weeks Act and the Clarke-McNary Act to restore what had been lost, and today the forest spans more than 604,000 acres across seven parishes — Grant, Natchitoches, Winn, Rapides, Vernon, Claiborne, and Webster — with some of the South’s largest remaining stands of native longleaf pine.

Credit: Kisatchie National Forest

According to the U.S. Forest Service, the forest’s five ranger districts include more than 300 miles of hiking, equestrian, and off-highway vehicle trails, multiple public boat ramps, campgrounds, and fisheries. The Catahoula Ranger District covers much of eastern Grant Parish and would bear the most direct impact from the proposed transfer. It is known for deer hunting, turkey, waterfowl, and fishing at Stuart Lake, a five-acre reservoir developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Outdoor Life reported that the forest supports 880 jobs across Louisiana and contributes roughly $71 million to the local economy annually, based on the latest available Forest Service data. About $1.6 million from Kisatchie revenue was paid back to the state and parishes in 2019. Visitor spending at the forest ran approximately $8 million annually as of 2018, according to the most recent available Forest Service figures.

Grant Parish Police Jury Votes Against the Transfer

The Grant Parish Police Jury, the governing body that would receive the land under the proposal, voted unanimously against it on May 14, 2026, after hearing public testimony. Vice President Roy Edwards told Verite News afterward: “We want that land to stay with the Forest Service and remain just like it is.” The jury had posted a public statement to their Facebook page on May 8, saying they were not seeking the proposal and did not endorse it.

According to the Grant Parish Journal, the police jury’s written statement described “misleading information” circulating in connection with the draft legislation and confirmed that neither the jury as a body nor any individual juror proposed, endorsed, or supported the transfer. Attendees at the May 14 meeting told reporters they had not been consulted before the draft circulated. Many said they learned about it only in recent weeks.

Not everyone in Grant Parish opposed it. One local resident posted to Facebook, characterizing the jury’s vote as a “hatchet job against Grant Parish residents aspiring for our community to be better,” arguing that local control of the land would generate tax revenue to improve water systems and schools.

What Conservation Groups Are Saying

The Louisiana Wildlife Federation has opposed the proposal, warning that the forest provides habitat for threatened and endangered species, including the red-cockaded woodpecker and the Louisiana pearlshell mussel, and that breaking up a contiguous 604,000-acre landscape into locally administered parcels introduces fragmentation risks that federal management currently prevents.

“Placing a public land conveyance inside a broader tax and economic development bill risks reducing the visibility of a significant public lands policy decision,” the LWF stated, “one that carries long-term implications for conservation, public access, and the future of wildlife habitat in Louisiana.”

The federation received more than 1,200 comments against the proposed transfer and is directing hunters, anglers, hikers, and outdoor users to contact Senator Cassidy (202-224-5824), Senator Kennedy (202-224-4623), and Representative Mike Johnson (202-225-2777).

The LWF also raised a concern about the bill’s structure: embedding a public lands conveyance inside a broader tax and economic development package reduces the scrutiny such a decision would normally receive through standalone legislation.

Broader Context at the Forest Service

The proposal comes as the U.S. Forest Service is dealing with several contested changes at the federal level. The agency announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, and close 57 research and development stations. The Roadless Rule, which restricted road construction and logging in undeveloped national forest areas, was rescinded by the USDA in June 2025. Conservation groups argue those developments make the Kisatchie transfer harder to assess on its own terms.

Louisiana hunters and outdoor users who visit Kisatchie regularly, including many from Acadiana who make the drive north to hunt the Catahoula District, stand to be directly affected. The forest is one of the last large-scale public hunting grounds accessible to anyone with a Louisiana hunting license, no private lease required.

The draft bill has not been formally introduced in Congress. Cassidy’s office has said the legislation is still being developed.

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