Henry E. Hardtner

Henry Ernest Hardtner (September 10, 1870 – August 7, 1935)

Henry Hardtner's younger brother, Quintin Theodore Hardtner, known as Quincy Hardtner (January 31, 1878 – August 21, 1952, Shreveport, Louisiana),^[1][8] managed the mill itself, while Henry devoted his time to purchasing land and studying the principles of timber growth and harvesting. Hardtner added more land in Winn Parish. He learned the advantage of producing a second crop of trees after the virgin timber was harvested. He told his lumbermen to avoid cutting smaller trees in order to allow them to grow to full size. He ordered that four seed trees per acre be left intact for natural reproduction. He developed a rudimentary fire protection system for his lands. He fenced young longleaf pines to protect them from wild hogs. His vision of reforestation was hence far in advance of the later embodiment of the standard practices of forestry. Hardtner said

I was born in the forests and have had close association with them since childhood. What I know of them cannot be learned in schools or colleges. To me, they are as human [beings], and I know the trees as I try to know men.^[3]

As a crusader for forestry causes, Hardtner, before his own years as a legislator, worked in 1904 for passage of Louisiana Act 113, which established a state department of forestry. The law also authorized a program to prevent forest fires, proposed the reforestation of barren lands, and established the study of forestry in public schools. The bill was drafted by H. H. White, an

actual forestry work commenced in 1908 ... I immediately made many trips to forestry regions and attended forestry conventions in order to acquire some knowledge of the subject. I found little on which to base a foundation for forestry and decided that there was no royal road to forestry and that I must blaze my own trail.[3]

The conservation commission issued a six-point program:

• (1) Immediate protection of cutover pine lands from fire
• (2) prevention of all forms of waste in logging
• (3) establishment of state forest reserves from gifts and by purchases
• (4) correction of the system of taxation on young growing timber
• (5) initiation of a tax on mature timber when cut, with proceeds earmarked for forestry conservation
• (6) creation of a department of forestry.^[3]

Hardtner's work led slowly to reforms, including his appointment as chairman of the new

In 1910, Hardtner was elected as the first state representative from the newly established La Salle Parish, carved from the hilly western half of Catahoula Parish. He pushed for various forestry and conservation bills but constantly ran into the problem of a lack of available funding. His Act 261 of 1910 established the first reforestation contracts, under which state and local governments assessed cutover lands at a lowered valuation for taxable purposes provided that timber was grown and maintained on the land.^[3]

Hardtner was the first president of the La Salle Parish Police Jury, the equivalent of a

Hardtner had opposed the administration of Governor Huey Long. In August 1935, Hardtner was killed in a train-car crash while headed from La Salle Parish to Baton Rouge to defend his company in a tax dispute with the state government. The tragedy of the fatal accident is ironic in that Hardtner was president of his own railroad freight line in La Salle Parish.^[17] Hardtner's legacy centers on the management of forests on a sustained-yield basis to create a marketable timber crop in perpetuity. His example was eventually followed thereafter in setting timber management policies throughout the state, region, and nation.^[3] Oddly, a month after Hardtner's death, Huey Long died of wounds sustained from his assassination at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge.

Juliet Doerr Hardtner died in New Orleans a year after her husband's passing. Henry and Juliet Hardtner are interred in the family plot next to the chapel at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Pineville.^[1]

On April 27, 1939, a bronze tablet was dedicated to Hardtner's memory in Urania Town Park. The school and sawmill closed for the afternoon ceremony. The tablet was a gift of the Society of American Foresters, the Yale University School of Forestry, and the Hardtner family.^[18]

Quincy and Henry Hardtner are honored through the naming of the Episcopal Camp Hardtner and Conference Center near Pollock in Grant Parish. The camp began with 40 acres (160,000 m²) and was doubled in size after World War II. The first summer camp was hosted there in 1948.^[19]

In 1973 and 1978, North Louisiana History published two articles on Hardtner.^[20]

The Henry Hardtner Award recognizes efforts that contribute to forest stewardship and sustainable forest management on non-industrial private lands. The award is presented by the Southern Group of State Foresters.^[21] In 1999, the first such award was presented to Rhett Johnson, the co-director of the Longleaf Alliance.

Other Hardtner award winners include:

• 2004 - George D. Kessler of Clemson University
• 2006 - Rick Hamilton of North Carolina State University
• 2006 - Dr. James Earl Kennamer, National Wild Turkey Federation
• 2012 - Dr. Jeff Stringer, University of Kentucky
• 2013 - Dr. Mark Megalos of North Carolina State University
• 2018 - Sam Cook, NC State University, College of Natural

References