Conserving Louisiana: Makensie Hinkle interviews Johnny Armstrong

Shown by permission. Copyright 2020 KNOE. All rights reserved.

LINCOLN PARISH, La. (KNOE) - Every year, the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture (LMVJV) honors private citizens within its geography for outstanding work in the areas of conservation. The Partnership exists to sustain bird habitats and their populations. This year, Doctor Johnny and Mrs. Karen Armstrong were recognized for their tireless work in maintaining and enhancing an old-growth stand of shortleaf pine and oak-hickory woodland.

Johnny and Karen have managed 500-acres of land right outside Ruston, LA for the last 14 years. Johnny says the woodland community on which they reside is deeply imperiled. There used to be more than five million acres in Louisiana and now there is less than 10 percent left.

“So, the question might be is, well, why do it? What why would we want to restore a native ecosystem? And the best answer to that question is to rescue biodiversity," Dr. Armstrong said. "Because right now, we have a global crisis of profound biodiversity destruction.”

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Conservationist and retired medical doctor (pathology), Johnny Armstrong and his wife Karen and Opal (k-nine) live within a Nature Conservancy protected old-growth forest and woodland near Ruston, Louisiana. Shadowshine is his first novel..