Atlantic white cedar plantings in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, and the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi

Abstract

Populations of Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) B.S.P.) growing at the extreme western range of the species are in danger of being lost, and information on the ecology of these populations is limited. Seeds and seedlings ("wildlings") were collected near Vancleave, MS. The wildlings were transplanted to bay-head sites on Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge where canopy gaps had been created in early 1989. Seeds were germinated, grown in a greenhouse, and transplanted a year later to three locations within a slash pine plantation: a bedded and fertilized site, the margin of a cypress pond, and a wet gap, in St. Tammany Parish, Lousiana. These plantings were established to study survival and growth in different habitat types, to compare seedlings grown from seed versus transplanted wildlings, and to attempt to generate some interest in planting Atlantic white-cedar in the extreme western portion of its natural range. Overall seedling survival averaged 94 percent after five growing seasons, although significant differences were detected among sites. Mean height per site in 1994 was significantly greater at the bedded and fertilized site (233 centimeters), and lowest at the slash pine site (91 centimeters). Growth at the cypress pond site was intermediate (158 centimeters). Wildlings at the bay-head sites had lower survival rates (75 and 64 percent), but average heights for the two sites were similar to those of the seedlings (265 and 165 centimeters). These results show that plantings involving either local seed or wildlings are viable choices for regenerating Atlantic white-cedar in southern Mississippi and eastern Louisiana.