Ouachita Basin of Louisiana Potential Natural Vegetation

The area designated as the Ouachita Basin for the purposes of this mapping effort is that portion of the

Mississippi Alluvial Valley within Louisiana that includes the Ouachita River lowlands and Macon Ridge. Although the Ouachita River is the largest stream present, the lowland portion of the study area is usually considered to be part of the Bouef Basin, one of six major lowland areas that comprise the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Macon Ridge is not normally considered part of any lowland basin but is included in this PNV mapping effort as part of the Ouachita Basin, because most of the internal drainage of Macon Ridge flows to the Ouachita lowlands.

  The landscape of the Ouachita Basin includes unique features, such as ancient lakeshore environments that can be restored to support sand prairie wetlands.  Other features differ in scale from sites of similar origin elsewhere in Mississippi Alluvial Valley.  For example, abandoned courses of the Arkansas River that traverse the surface of Macon Ridge in this basin are often little more than shallow, narrow traces occupied by small streams, while in other basins they typically are much larger and deeper.  While all such sites are mapped for potential restoration as River Swamps, in the Ouachita Basin the scale of those features often will be quite different than they are elsewhere.