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Tristan Baurick Verite News
Sen. Bill Cassidy has dropped a controversial proposal to transfer nearly a quarter of Kisatchie National Forest to Grant Parish.
The Louisiana Republican faced backlash from conservation groups and even the parish government that would have received about 140,000 acres under a proposed bill drafted by Cassidy’s office. Last week, the Grant Parish Police Jury voted unanimously against the proposal. Jury members said the parish doesn’t have the resources to manage that much land, and strongly preferred that it remain under the U.S. Forest Service, which maintains several campgrounds, habitat restoration areas and hundreds of miles of trails within Kisatchie, the only national forest in Louisiana.