Projects

For the Bayou works to identify wetlands projects in need of funding.  Currently, the 2010 restoration projects we have chosen are as follows:

photo by nell campbell

Big Branch Marsh Restoration Planting Project : March 2010

January 21, 2010.  For the Bayou proudly allocated $1000 to The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) to assist in completing funding for this project.

Project Description:
The Big Branch Marsh Restoration Planting Project is a partnership effort with numerous different entities, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Restore America’s Estuaries, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Lang Family Foundation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) Program and For the Bayou.

The goal of the project is to re-create marsh habitat in the open mud flats behind the Goose Point/Point Platte by planting smooth cordgrass, (Spartina alterniflora), on critical locations of the exposed mud flats to capture and hold soil movement through tidal action. This new marsh will help maintain the lake-rim function along this section of the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain by preventing the loss of new material in the interior marsh and further reduce the chance of losing marsh lands to tidal fluctuations.  The plantings will be conducted using volunteers from the community.

photo by nell campbell

10,000 Trees for Louisiana ’s Wetlands:  Winter 2010

This project is being led by The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) with assistance by RPM Ecosystems and For the Bayou.

Project Description: RPM Ecosystems has donated 10,000 trees (3 feet and larger and mostly cypress) to CRCL (The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana) to plant around the coast of LA.   For the Bayou will be assisting CRCL to raise funds for volunteer planting supplies and nutria protectors.  CRCL will be working to identify project sites and other funding streams over the next 6 months, ready to begin planting in the winter of 2010. We are currently recruiting corporate sponsors to assist in matching funds.

photo by Cindy Matherne

Grand Isle Planting Project:  Summer 2010

This project is a collaboration by BTNEP (Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program), and For the Bayou.

Project Description:

The 2008 hurricane season (Gustav and Ike) left Grand Isle in pretty bad shape.  The sand dunes that protect the barrier island of Grand Isle were washed inland and the island is still covered with sand over two feet deep in some places.  By adding native plants to the reconstructed dunes, we can help sustain and improve the new dunes by holding the sand in place and catching additional sand that is naturally moved by the wind.  Healthy dunes provide critical habitat and help to protect this economically, ecologically, and culturally significant region of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary.  The plants used for restoration will include Seashore Paspalum and Bitter Panicum.

• WE ARE...

  • for the alligators, for the brown pelicans, for the white pelicans, for the speckled trout, for the red drum, for the black drum, for the sac-au-lait, for the snapping turtles, for the cypress, for the mangroves, for the bald eagles, for the silver seatrout, for the sand seatrout, for the tricolored heron, for the great blue heron, for the reddish egret, for the green heron, for the woodstork, for the little blue heron, for the hooked mussel, for the blue crab, for the Louisiana oysters, for the choupique, for the brown shrimp, for white shrimp, for the Gulf menhaden “pogy”, for the gulf kingfish, for the southern kingfish, for the squid, for the pink shrimp, for the rock shrimp, for the alligator gar, for the marsh deer, for the crawfish, for the snapper, for the tarpon, for the blue, flathead and channel catfish, for the buffalo fish, for the crappie, for the shad, for the pallad, Atlantic and shovelnose sturgeon, for the paddlefish, for the pink flamingos, for the mallards, for the Canada goose, for the teal, for the pintail, for the wigeon, for the poule d’eau, for the grosbec, for the chorook, for the papabotte, for the Louisiana racoons, for the Louisiana black bears, for the garfish, for the beaver, for the muskrat, for the otter, for the mink, for the bobcat, for the opossum, for the rabbit, for the squirrels, for the toads, for the striped mullet, for the silver mullet, for the yellow, white and striped bass, for the bluegill, for the bowfin, for the freshwater drum, for the ling, for the king and Spanish mackerel, for the hawks, for the owls, for the ground orchid, for the hyacinths, for the Louisiana quillwort, for the American chaffseed, for the snails, for the sea turtles, for the snowy egret, for the cattle egret, for the roseate spoonbill, for the night herons, for the great-egret, for the ibises, for the armadillo, for the tree frogs, for the snakes, for the alligator snapping turtles, for the water moccasin, for the canebrake rattlesnake, for the Louisiana blue star, for the southern lady’s-slipper, for the long-sepaled false dragon-head, for the parrot pitcherplant, for the gopher tortoise, for the Louisiana pearlshell mussel, for the red-cockaded woodpecker, for the gulf killifish “cocahoe”, for the sheepshead minnows, for the bay anchovies, for the fiddler crabs, for the Atlantic croaker, for the southern flounder, for the Atlantic sheephead, for the white alligator, for the millions of migratory waterfowl and the thousands of other plants and animals that are rapidly losing habitat in Louisiana’s wetlands, for the Cajuns, for the coast of Louisiana...